Dragon Rising the Master Yi Epic
by Caccus
Summary: Galvanized by his string of defeats on the Fields of Justice, and fueled by revenge for his destroyed village, Master Yi abandons the League in search of a legendary sword, to perhaps find the power to finally enact his vengeance upon the evil that robbed him of everything he loved. But the League does not take kindly to deserters... even the friends he once fought with...
1. Chapter 1

**Major Characters**

Master Yi  
Ahri  
Jax  
Fiddlesticks  
Singed

**Minor Characters**

Ashe  
Tryndamere  
Shen  
Akali  
Anivia

**Chapter 1**

_Master Yi landed softly on a moss-covered branch. His footfall made barely a sound as his padded feet were further cushioned by the welcoming vegetation. The branch made the slightest creak as it accepted his weight. Then, all sounds were almost immediately erased by a soft whirring that spat out of the writhing tentacle mounted on the back of Yi's head. He silently leaned further forwards, until the branches and leaves in front of him gave way to a spectacular view of the Plague Jungles. __A sea of green greeted him, sweeping up gray, cracked mountainsides that stretched up to kiss the blue-white sky. Somewhere here was the Dragon Rising. Yi would find it._

_KREEEEE!  
Master Yi glanced up from under the jungle canopy; spotting a hawk far up in the sky. It was a beautiful creation, made completely of blue-white crystal. The hawk shot through the air like an arrow and it exploded a few miles past him in a twinkling shower of ice.  
"Hello, Ashe." Yi muttered. He considered this revelation. The Frost Archer, Ashe, was searching for him... she was probably sent by the Institute after him, which meant that they were getting desperate now. Ashe and he had clashed many times before on the Fields of Justice; usually ending badly for Ashe in close quarters combat. She must have known that she could never win against him in up close, in thick terrain created by the deep jungle. Therefore she has support, likely her Barbarian King husband, Tryndamere, although Anivia or Nunu was possible as well.*_

_He wiped moisture from the four lenses on his helm. This specially optimized armor was an antique, just like him. Back, thousands of years ago in Ionia's glory years, when he was still almost mortal, he was a feared Headhunter of the Qin Dynasty. This Headhunter armor favored ambush tactics and stealth far more than the all-around combat suit he wore in the Field of Justice. Two lenses on his helm were for seeing, and the other two actually predicted a half-second into the future; allowing the user to see everything and everything that will be. Perfect for picking off that straggler in the party; one wayward step could result in a new Trophy of a skull. A tentacle writhed at the back of his skull, absorbing as much ambient noise as it could, and neutralized them, making him virtually silent. Finally, the suit was equipped with a vicious blade affixed to his forearm, allowing a killing-blow bare-handed._

_Vicious. Brutal. Just like his glory years._

_Yi crouched lower on the tree branch he was perched on. They were coming._  
_How did it come like this, that he was hunting his comrades like prey now?_

Many days before...

He saw Jax leap at him with that deadly lamppost of his, through one of the seven lenses of his vision-enhancing goggles. Weakened as he was, there was no doubt that being hit by Jax's strike would be the death of him. He had to evade. He tried to start an Alpha Strike on nearby Miss Fortune, who was pre-occupied with fending off allied Alistar, but before he could leap, he found himself locked in place, his feet frozen in mid-stride, as hexes and runes surrounded him.

Ryze, he realized, and then a brass lamppost caved his windpipe in.

He died.

He ran in with in the center of his four allies, periodically stopping to allow his slower comrades to catch up. The enemy, five in all, charged right back at them. Let your allies absorb some spells, his summoner relayed to him, and Master Yi complied. He held back, letting Alistar and Pantheon charge by him down the river. The enemy immediately engaged, causing a light show of spells and abilities to erupt at the riverbank. He closed his eyes, and willed his chi to flow quicker. He felt his limbs loosen, his heart quicken, and his senses shape like a razor-sharp edge. Finally, he ignited his sword, and let the blue flame of Wuju spill out his blade.

He charged into the fray.

He blocked a strike by Jax, and then responded with a double strike to the enormous man's belly. Before the Grandmaster-at arms could respond, Master Yi successfully started an Alpha Strike on an ambushing Talon, cutting deep through the assassin's armor, and slaying him. Out of the corner of his lenses, he spotted the Demacian Mage of Light, Lux, charge of out some nearby rushes and launch her sealing light at him.

_Clever girl, he thought. She must have saved her spell for me. _

However, her summoner's aim was poor, and the spell struck instead a distracted Pantheon; the light dissolved harmlessly against the Rakkor's Aegis of Zeonia.  
Master Yi moved to respond, but something in the forest behind the riverbank caught his eye.  
A tall, gangly figure, carrying a vat full of poison on his back, stood above the river. His face was shrouded by a cloth, and his cold, dead eyes were housed in a pasty, hard head. Singed. The Chemical weapon.  
Yi felt his pulse quicken and his chi flare up in anger. Horrifying images flashed through his mind. Of a mottled child's hand, still clutching its doll, lying lifeless in the mud, flashed across his mind. Of houses burning from an art not magical, or natural, but alchemical. Of blood running red, and then pearl-of mother, then green. Kissing good-bye his second to last-wife, Rixa.

_"I will bring much glory to our village, and the Wuju style," he promised to his wife at the village gates, to the cheers of his watching kinsfolk and neighbors. It was the start of the Noxian invasion, and many Ionian warriors were eager to do battle against the craven enemy. Master Yi would be the greatest of them, slaying the enemy left and right. He didn't realize the possibility that his tiny, mountain-embedded village would be attacked. He never even considered._

"Just come back safe, my husband" Rixa said, smiling. Her face seemed radiant in the morning sun. Of all of his past wives, Rixa had the blackest hair, and the kindest smile. She was always there for Yi while she was alive.

"I will return soon." Yi promised again. He bowed to his wife, to his family, and to his village. And with that, he left without looking back once… not at his beautiful wife in the morning sun, nor the green crops ripening for harvest, nor the worn mountain path leading up to his beautiful waterfall-side village.

Why? Why did he say, "I will return"? Why didn't he plead Rixa to stay safe too? It was as if the request would have made it so. But instead, because he wouldn't be there… the mountain path would be littered with bodies, the houses and crops would burn with colored fires not of this world, and the waterfall would run red with blood. He gripped his sword tighter, and charged his hated enemy.

"RAAAAAAGH!"

Yi leveled the point of his sword at Singed, and the tip just touched the monster's chest, when Yi stopped. All of Yi stopped. Hexes and Runes floated about him, freezing him in place.

It was the Runed Mage, Ryze.  
Again.

Singed gave Yi a mocking glance before finishing off Pantheon from behind. The proud Rakkor died with a crushing blow to the back. To his left, Yi could see Alistar being torn apart by Lux and Miss Fortune, and to his right, he could see the fresh corpses of Ashe and Teemo, soaking in the mud, with Jax standing over them.  
He was the only one left.

The Hexes and Runes lifted, and Yi dropped to his feet. Singed wordlessly stepped to his back, cutting off his only escape route. The other three closed in on him slowly.  
Yi swung up his sword in a fighting stance. He still had his Highlander ready. He could still win.

He imagined that Singed was smiling as the chemical weapon pulled back his cloak to reveal what he was wearing underneath. Thornmail. Anathema to Yi. The spiked armor would magically damage him every time he attacked the monster. And Yi struck a lot. It was then that Yi realized that ALL of the other team was wearing Thornmail. He felt his summoner groan in despair as the young magician realized his battle was lost. But Yi was not so pessimistic.

He swung his sword experimentally. He could still win. He could still—

"Hey." Jax called from behind Yi, "Remember this?" As Yi turned, the hulking man leaped, and crushed the Wuju master's skull from behind.

Later…

Yi lay in his bed, at his quarters in the Institute of War. His latest wife, Hae-In, tended to his residual wounds he collected from fighting as an avatar in the Fields of Justice, from his bedside. She gave him a tender smile as she peeled apple slices with a small knife.

Hae-In was a newcomer to the Institute of War, and the first wife Yi took after Rixa. As Yi lived a very long time, he took many wives over the years, in order, as each one of them in turn grew old and died as he stayed young. The villagers were always happy to marry their daughters to the good and venerable Yi, and Yi always let the young girls divorce him peacefully if they were unsatisfied with endlessly caring for a centuries-old man who never grew old. Hae-In was a disciple of Ahri, one of the humans who grew up in the area where Ahri preyed as a fox. In the northern sector of that province, women were especially oppressed by the village council there, and the entire area was blight on Ionia's good name. Women like Hae-In saw Ahri's animal predations on men like actions worthy of a savior.

So, she and dozens of other women had followed the Nine-Tailed Fox from the island of Ionia, across the sea to the mainland, all the way to the Institute of War. Once there, Ahri sent a woman to every other Ionian male champion as a goodwill "gift". Thankfully, none of the other Masters abused Ahri's recklessness. Lee Sin was a celibate monk, Shen was far too devoted to his order, Kennen was a Yordle and Udyr quickly sent his young girl scurrying back to Ahri out of fear of him accidently hurting her with his great and barely controlled strength.

Ahri. The fox still had much to learn about being human.

Yi had raised some eyebrows when he accepted, even though he felt uncomfortable for marrying in such a fashion. Still, he made it clear that Hae-In was free to leave him whenever she liked, and she responded by telling him to shut up and his quarters were a mess. She seemed happy.

And with a companion once again, after years of isolation, he felt a little happy as well.  
The two sat in peace as Yi rested, and Hae-In continued peeling apples.

BAM! The door to Yi's quarters burst open.

"Sir," stammered a League of Legends official, "It is not allowed to trespass in champion quarters unless- "

"QUIET!" yelled the other man. The intruder was short and fat, with a wispy mustache that framed his fat lips. He was a wealthy Ionian merchant, guessed Yi. "You! Master Useless!" The fat man gestured at Yi. "how do you explain this!" The man angrily tossed a couple sheets of paper over Master Yi's head. One landed on Yi's lap, and he could see it was the match record upside-down. His name was circled in red ink.

"Five kills, twelve deaths?" The man tore at hair that was no longer there. "What kind of show is this! "  
Yi calmly re-arranged the papers, and handed them back to the man.

"The enemy was very skilled." The man seemed to have a seizure.

"Because of you, I lost ALL of the Plague Jungle mining rights to those Zuan *******s! You're A MASTER! You don't give me that kind of **** when you're a million years old, and tell me, 'they were very skilled'!" The man imitated Yi's voice in a high-pitched manner.

"Sir!" the League official protested, "This behavior is unacceptable! Please leave!"

"No! What's unacceptable is that this DINOSAUR is lounging in a hall for REAL champions!" The man turned to Yi with a sneer. "Die of old age already, you antique, preferably before you represent me again." The man spit on him.

In a flash, Hae-In was on him with her knife. She grabbed the man by his neck, and slammed him to the ground.  
"Take it BACK you pig!" she screamed, holding the fruit knife to the man's flabby throat, "or I'll gut you like a one!"

"Argh!" The man yelled, "Get the ***** off me! Get her off me!" The League official tried to pull Hae-In off the hapless man.

"Ma'am, please!"

"Hae-In! Release him!"  
At Yi's words, the girl released the man, and the pudgy man scrambled back. A thin line of blood ran down his neck, which the man pawed at with concern.

"She killed me! She killed me!"  
The man fled from the Champion's Quarters, down the dark corridor, clutching his neck. The League official gave an apologetic nod to Hae-In and Yi, before running after the Ionian merchant.

"Che!" Hae-In pouted, sitting back down on her bedside stool. "How annoying!" She started peeling apples again, more roughly and forcibly than necessary.

"My wife?" Yi asked the girl. Hae-In gave another smile to Yi, though it was a little forced. She was still childishly angry. Or maybe everything seems childish to me, I am thousands of years old. Yi sighed, and put his hand on hers. "You forgot to wash the knife." Her smile faded, and she stared in horror at the slightly bloody apple slices.  
"Che!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

It was the same deal, every day.

He suffered yet another loss. Yet another death for a man who remained deathless for thousands of years. Every day, it was yet another defeat by the hands of the magical, the enormous, or the wicked. Blinded. Stunned. Knocked dozens of feet into the air, and into the waiting jaws of something monstrous. Torn to shreds by a werewolf, while being magically blasted apart. Rooted to a spot before feeling cold steel pierce his heart.

Hell.

He was getting old, he used to joke, a couple hundred years too old. But now it was no longer a joke. He was slowing down. Five hundred years ago, Yi could have avoided the rupturing tail of Cho'Gath like water flowing around a rock. Eight hundred years ago, he could have matched Warwick's Infinite Duress blow-for blow with a kitchen knife, and cut open the man-wolf's jugular while he was at it. A millennia or so ago, in his prime, he could have found the miniscule imperfections in Fiora's rapier as it shone in the light, and using the art of Wuju, sliced clean through her Demacian steel sword with a twig.

After yet another defeat, Master sat alone in a sanctuary in the Institute of War. Another summoner had, after dying several times early on, cursed him for being useless, and left his avatar uncontrolled in impatient fury. Yi could only watch from in front of the Nexus Obelisk as his allies were slowly but surely crushed.

He sat alone in the garden, with his sight fold over his eyes. The translucent sheet was necessary to rest his eyes, as extended use of his magically augmenting goggles eroded his eyesight. Like Master Lee Sin, within a couple of centuries, he may be blind. Then where would he go to?

A soft sound of rustling fur drifted through the ambient noise, one that Yi had learned well. It was the sound of tails whipping about. Nine of them.

"Mistress—no, Master Ahri." He bowed to the source of the sound. "What gives me the pleasure?"  
Soft giggling cut into the air.

"Master? Me? I'm no Master like you, Yi, but I AM getting quite good at one certain skill." She giggled again, and Yi thought he sensed Ahri looking around. "So where's Hae-In? You're still together, right?"

"She is back at our quarters, probably preparing tea. " Yi took off his sight fold. It was Ahri. Beautiful. Foxy. And dangerous. She was playing with a glowing blue orb, tossing the contained energy about like a beach ball. Yi estimated the amount of magical power in that orb was enough to crush a boulder at the moment. "If you like, you are welcome to join us."

"No, no, I just wanted to see how you were doing," Ahri waved dismissively. "I heard you were losing a lot lately, so I wanted to cheer you up." She laid her head on her orb and looked up at him. "So how are you doing?"

"Fine," Yi gave a grateful nod, "thank you."  
Ahri reached out, and tickled Yi's chin.

"You shaved your beard."  
"Maybe I thought if I looked younger, I could fight and feel younger."

"Oh, I know how to make you feel young again." She smiled. "I'm sure, living for so long, that you picked up quite a few… tricks along the way."  
"I am old and senile. I've forgotten a lot."

"I'll help you remember."  
"You're a little young for me. What are you, seven? How long do foxes live, anyhow?"

Ahri pouted, puffing up her cheeks.  
"You're no fun. Shen's no fun, Udyr's no fun…" she muttered, and trailed off. The two sat in silence for a while. The trees rustled in the wind, and a bird chirped somewhere off in the sky. "Yi." Ahri's face hardened, and Yi could see the Fox clearly in her. "There's something else I wanted to talk to you about."  
A few more moments passed, as Ahri gathered her words.

"I… heard about what happened to your village." She watched Yi carefully, for any sign of recognition. "From Shen. I also know that the man responsible, Singed, is here, at the League."  
Still Yi remained silent.

"And you are so powerful"  
Nothing.

"So why… don't you kill him?"  
No answer. Yi sat motionless for a least a minute. The air felt very cold suddenly, and the sun too hot.

"Ahri. You have a lot to learn about being human," Yi coldly stated, "Especially about tact." He rose to leave.

Yi made it halfway out of the courtyard, before Ahri called out:  
"You're right." Ahri said. When Yi looked up, he was shocked to see that she was crying. The human comment must have hit a too close to home. "I'm just a stupid fox, I don't know anything. But I do know this." She strode up to face Yi. "Any fox would have delivered Justice to that man already."  
And with that, Ahri exited the sanctuary, tails whipping about.

…Yi stood there, motionless, for much longer.  
Until he realized.  
She was wrong on one count. He was no longer powerful.

But she was right that... Justice. Will need to be delivered.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Yi stood in his quarters, totally naked. Ahri had galvanized him into action. He would not lose his determination now. He reached down into the very back of his closet, and removed a loose tile from the floor.

Underneath, was his old armor, from a thousand years ago. His Headhunter armor.  
He dressed slowly; nostalgia washed over him as he piece by piece, assembled his old self. A hand, from nowhere, offered him his Headhunter's sword. Yi glanced up at the owner's hand.

Hae-In. She placed the sword, blade down, in his hand, and closed it tight.  
"Whatever you are doing, my husband," Hae-In said solemnly, "I am always here to support you." Yi closed his eyes, and gripped her hands in gratitude.

"Thank you, my wife." Yi lifted the sword onto his back, and fit it into its holder. Yi started towards his quarter's exit, before his wife gripped him by his shoulder, and then hugged him from behind.

"Yi!" She lay her head on his back. "Stay safe." Yi smiled, and held her hand.

"I will retur-" But he stopped himself. He would not repeat the words that lost Rixa. Hae-In looked up in confusion. "You too, Hae-In. Please… stay safe. I can't lose another companion so soon." This time, Yi looked back. At his dark quarters, kept tidy and clean by his fastidious wife. His warm bed, soothing, yet cool. And his beautiful wife, her round face shining with equal parts concern and courage. He would remember them this time.

Yi left.

* * *

He was outside the Institute of War. It was dark out. The stars were shining in the sky, and the moon was half-full. Everything was silent outside the monolithic building.

Halfway down the outside steps, Yi came across someone fishing in a pond. It was perhaps ten o'clock in the evening, yet Jax still sat patiently at the pool, fishing rod in his hands, ready. The hulking man seemed so odd, perched on a minuscule stool next to a pond not much larger than most spas, completely entranced by his red bobbing fishing lure floating in the center of the pond. Jax, without looking up, must have noticed Yi, for he raised a four-fingered hand in greeting.

Yi returned the gesture, and started back down the steps. He got about six steps before Jax called out again. His deep voice cut through the still night like a knife.

"They'll come after you, you know. They don't take kindly to deserters."  
Yi glanced at Jax, who was still staring intently at his fishing lure.  
"I know." Yi replied evenly.

"They are powerful. And they will send everything that they have against you."  
The fishing lure started to bob.  
"I'm counting on it."

"Pardon?" Jax faced Yi for the first time. "You're counting on what? The might of the entire League of Legends crushing you?" Yi smiled.  
"Or… Me crushing them." Yi shrugged. "One of the two."

The two men stared at each other for a bit… before bursting into laughter. HA! HAHAHA! HAHAHA, HA! Jax wiped a tear from one of his helm slots.

His lure was caught by a fish.

"I like your style, Yi. I can't wait to hunt you down, wherever you go."  
"And I can't wait to send the bloodhounds scurrying back to their masters, their tails tucked between their legs."  
Yi raised his hand in farewell, and continued down the Institute steps.

Jax waved goodbye, and glanced back at his lure. There was a fish caught on his line, but it seemed to be thrashing more wildly than it should. Jax pulled the line out, and glanced at the Silverfin.

"What the-" From the fish, burst a worm. The worm rapidly grew into a metallic-colored butterfly, and flew off, leaving Jax with a fish looking like it was killed by a depth charge.

_Hell… Jax mused. He had accidently used a Razor Worm as bait? _

Jax watched the razor-sharp butterfly flutter away with a sense of deep foreboding.

* * *

_KREEEEE!  
Master Yi glanced up from under the jungle canopy; spotting a hawk far up in the sky. It was a beautiful creation, made completely of blue-white crystal. The hawk was shot through the air like an arrow and it exploded a few miles past him in a twinkling shower of ice._

_"Hello, Ashe." Yi muttered. He considered this revelation. The Frost Archer, Ashe, was searching for him. She was probably sent by the Institute after him. Ashe must have known that she could never win against him in close quarters, in thick terrain created by the deep jungle. Therefore she has support, likely her Barbarian King husband, Tryndamere, although Anivia or Nunu was possible as well._

_He wiped moisture from the four lenses on his helm. This specially optimized armor was an antique, just like him. Back, thousands of years ago in Ionia's glory years, when he was still almost mortal, he was a feared Headhunter of the Qin Dynasty. This Headhunter armor favored ambush tactics and stealth far more than the all-around combat suit he wore in the Field of Justice. Two lenses on his helm were for seeing, and the other two actually predicted a half-second into the future; allowing the user to seeing everything and everything that will be. Perfect for picking off that straggler in the party; one wayward step could result in a new Trophy of a skull. A tentacle writhed at the back of his skull, absorbing as much ambient noise as it could, and neutralized them, making him virtually silent. Finally, the suit was equipped with a vicious blade affixed to his forearm, allowing a killing-blow bare-handed._

_Vicious. Brutal. Just like his glory years._  
_Yi crouched lower on the tree branch he was perched on. They were coming._  
_How did it come like this, that he was hunting his comrades like prey now?_

_Yi leaped from branch to branch, avoiding Ashe's search party one step at a time. The heat was oppressive, and the humidity was thick like prison chains. This was the Plague Jungles, and one wrong step could result in a twisted ankle, or a broken neck. And he could not afford any injury right now. He stopped to rest by a particularly large Madrongo palm. He gasped, resting his hands on his knees. Sweat dripped from off of his helm. How many hours had he been running now? Six? Seven?_

_He was considering taking a longer break, when an image flashed across his vision a half-second before it happened; an enormous arrow of ice slamming into his chest and freezing him to the Madrongo. He dodged Ashe's deadly blow just in time, ducking low to the ground. He could feel the air freeze above his back as the Enchanted Crystal Arrow froze the Madrongo clean through. The massive tree, now too brittle at its base, toppled over in a splintering of ice shards and wood planks._

_Yi kept on moving._


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Master Yi has deserted the League?" High Councilor Heyward Relivash mused, "Is this confirmed?"  
At a large round stone table inscribed with runes that constantly fed its three occupants information on the league, the three High Councilors, Heyward Relivash , Kiersta Mandrake, and Vessaria Kolminye, convened in as the Council of Equity. All three sat hooded and masked; only Vessaria revealed any physical feature in her dark gray hair that spilled out from her hood.

"Yes." Kiersta glanced at a parchment left on by his side. "It seems that Master Yi deserted the league twelve hours ago. He was witnessed exiting the Institute of War, without permission or leave, by Jax, who was fishing at the time." Kiersta's mouth twitched in annoyance. "It seemed that… HE… Jax... delayed his report for so long, 'because his dinner exploded'"

"Why would he do something like this?" inquired Vessaria, "Has anyone interrogated his wife, Hae-In?"  
"Hae-In has already been interviewed by League officials," Heyward replied, "and as expected, it was a fruitless effort. Master Yi would never be as foolish as to endanger his wife by letting her know where he was going"

Vessaria sighed and put her head in her hands.  
"I'm not sure that the good Master knows where he is going, either."

"So," Kiersta interjected, "What are we going to do about this? We can't just leave such a powerful being running amok in Runeterra. For the sake of peace, we can't let any of our champions desert."

"We will hunt him down, then." Heyward replied heavily. "Deploy our champions suited to search and capture, and have them find and capture Master Yi. Back them up with Summoners ready with the banned spell, Emprison. And ready a tribunal for the absentee Master."

Heyward fingered the High Councilor's Emblem of Judgment, a heavy chain necklace that represented the vow he took for peace on Runeterra. The Judgment that he inherited from High Councilor Reginald Ashram.

"I will keep peace on Runeterra, Reginald." So Heyward vowed, "Even if it means bloodying my hands"

They had him cornered. But so did he. Ashe took point, aiming her Frost Bow at anything that looked suspicious. Tryndamere stayed close to his wife, hefting a great sword, even larger than Yi's sword, hell, even larger than YI, about as if it weighed no more than a toy. Finally, Anivia took the rear, leaving a trail of frost everywhere she hovered. After chasing Yi for several miles, they were pushing into a cliff face that boxed in on itself, where he hid right now. Yi was perched on another tree branch, carefully observing present and future actions by the three.

_"Yi?" called out Tryndamere, in his gravelly voice, "Where are you, man? Let's just come out and go home!" Yi could see Ashe roll her eyes even before she knew she would._  
_"Like he'll answer, Tryn. He's come this far. He'll try to dodge us again.-"_

_Ashe turned back to the cliff-box, drawing her bow, not noticing that Anivia had fallen a bit behind._

_Yi leapt then. A powerful Alpha Strike on Anivia, and while in the air, he ignited his Wuju Style, Double Striking. The Cyropheonix died, and immediately transformed into an egg. Within a few seconds, she would revive, and raise the alarm._  
_Yi grabbed the egg, and using all of his strength, hurled the egg several miles into the jungle. Anivia would be fine, but considerably confused and pissed when she rebirthed. Preferably down a cliff or something._

_"-So keep your eyes open." Ashe turned at the odd simultaneous sound of an Alpha Strike, Wuju Style, Double Strike, death of Anivia, and Anivia being hurled several miles away, all compressed in the span of a second._

_"Actually, Master Tryndamere, I am here." Master Yi rested on his Headhunter's sword; the only trace left of Anivia was a rapidly melting spot of frost on the ground._

_"Yi!" Tryndamere called, "You did answer! Nice armor!"_  
_Ashe nocked her bow._  
_"What did you do with Anivia? Yi." Her eyes were getting dangerous._  
_Yi glanced in the direction he threw Anivia's egg._

_"Nothing." Yi shrugged, "She's fine, albeit a couple miles from here right now."_  
_"Really." Ashe narrowed her eyes. She always got very pretty when she did that, but very dangerous as well. "Well, you're coming with us, Yi. You're under arrest."_  
_"Am I?" Yi pulled out his sword._

_"You are" Ashe drew her bow back further._  
_"Well." Yi got into a ready stance._

_"Well." Ashe inhaled. Yi smiled. All three of them just stood, tense._  
_"Let's go then," Yi said, and launched an Alpha Strike._

_..._

_How long had they been fighting?_

_All three of them were exhausted. Even with his Headhunter's armor, Yi could barely keep up with the Freljord duo, Tryndamere, although near death, had worked up a rage, and Ashe's Enchanted Crystal Arrow was nearly ready again. He would have to fight dirty._

_Yi charged forwards, over-extending himself, and catching Tryndamere off-guard. Yi stabbed into the Barbarian King's chest, when the King grabbed Yi's sword, and ripped it out of him. He flung Yi, sword and all, against the cliff face. The Barbarian King roared in his rage. He was invincible, now. His rage was undying and terrible. Yi scrambled for a specific rock he left against the Cliff face, dodging frost-shrouded arrows all the way._

_RAAGGH! Tryndamere charged him, just as Yi reached his rock._  
_"Sorry, Tryndamere." Yi, muttered, as he slammed his sword into the ground near the rock, just as Tryndamere was over him, great-sword raised. The ground collapsed, after the sticks Yi had set up were punctured by his Headhunter's sword. Tryndamere fell twenty feet into a deep pit that Yi had dug hours beforehand, before landing hard at the bottom._

_THUD! Ungh!_

_The Barbarian King seemed to be stunned by the fall. No matter. Even he couldn't spin out of that pit._  
_"Tyrn!" screamed Ashe, and she ran to the pit._  
_"He's fine, Ashe." Yi consoled her. "I would never hurt any of you if I had to."_  
_In response, Ashe raised her bow. She was furious now. An Enchanted Crystal Arrow was nocked, and ready._

_"WHY? Why are you doing this, Yi?" Yi held his hands up, trying to calm her._  
_"Ashe… put down the arrow." He could not yet see her firing in the future. He wanted to avoid that._

_"Answer me! Before I skewer you!""_  
_"Please, put down that arrow, first. You don't want to shoot that." He wanted to avoid this ending..._  
_"DON'T I?" Ashe fired her arrow at him, and of course, Yi saw it coming.. He grabbed the arrow mid-flight, and re-directed it at Ashe, where it scored a direct hit. The arrow exploded on her like an icy grenade. When the fog cleared, Yi could see Ashe, frozen in place, struggling against the effects of her own arrow. Ice slowly crawled up her body, immobilizing her._

_"You…" Ashe muttered, "You are so strong… why don't you fight like this at the Fields of Justice?"_  
_Yi thought of an analogy she would understand._  
_"An arrow fired backwards has no power to it. I had not yet found my purpose."_

_Yi reached into her sheath, and pulled out the rest of her Crystal Arrows. He crushed them at her feet, and then stepped quickly back as Ashe was encased in Ice. She would be trapped for a couple hours at least. And with that, Master Yi strolled off. In his hands, was a description of the conflict that an earlier Ruling on the Fields of Justice resolved._  
_The Match where he lost, 5 to 12, was over an expedition for an Ionian artifact from the days of the Qin Dynasty, rumored to be lost deep within the Plague Jungles._  
_When the fat Ionian merchant had tossed the match papers on him, he pocketed the sheet out of curiosity._

_The reason was that the artifact in question was a legendary sword._

_He would find it. And extract his revenge._


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

_RAAGH!_

_Malzahar, the Void Prophet, forced open an entire field of negative energy over where Yi was running. The attack wrenched open a sliver of the Void upon an innocent half-acre of the Plague Jungles. Plants withered, animals twitched once, and died, and proud trees twisted, and doubled over, before turning as black as death itself. Yi ran as quickly as he could out of the zone, feeling the power of the Void eat away at him, little by little._

_He rolled onto firm ground, looked up, and twisted away as a savage claw made a pass at shredding his face. Malzahar's voidling, those creatures that sprung from the source of his spells as a side effect, had now grown huge and frenzied, leaping like a predator at Yi constantly._

_It tried to jump on him, so he caught it on his sword, and flung the beast off into a fern._

_Yi leaned forwards, and slammed his sword into the Voidling. The creature squealed, twisted, and then shriveled until nothing was left but a blackened shell. Panting, Yi pulled himself up._

_Immediately, Yi was hit by cruel visions of his own demise. He could see himself, standing alone against a flood of voidlings, and creatures much worse, pouring out of the sky. Yi could see and feel himself be devoured alive by the creatures. This was Malzahar's Malefic Visions, was it? The ability blocked much of his Yi's visions, so he could not see Malzahar sneak up on him to suppress him._

_Yi was hit then by a beam of light that shot from Malzahar's eyes. They completely suppressed his will; Yi could not move an inch unless Malzahar wished it so. All the while, Malzahar was burning away Yi's soul._

_Just… A little bit longer… Yi thought desperately… No… He was going to die… he had to… do something…_

_Yi focused, and slipped into Slipspace._  
_Here was a world different from the earth, or even the Void. Here was the fifth dimension, the world he traveled in with each Alpha Strike. Yi drifted over to where Malzahar stood, frozen, and thrust his sword into the prophet's back._  
_Immediately, he returned the real world, and the prophet screamed from the seemingly mortal wound. The floating man went rigid, and then turned into a mass of purple space, before disappearing._

_He would be back. As slave to the Void, he would be revived once more. But he was out of Yi's way as of now._

* * *

"WHAT? What the HELL? HOW!"  
The Councilor's assistant quailed under the interrogation.

"L-Like I said, sir. We found Tryndamere trapped in a deep pit, Ashe frozen solid, and Anivia lost wandering in an entirely different sector of the Plague Jungles. Tryndamere and Anivia are fine, and we're treating Ashe for hypothermia right now. Malzahar is still MIA."

"Bah!" spat Councilor Garth Gareth, the man appointed head of the search and capture mission for Master Yi. "Who cares about them? Useless, stupid idiots… Can't even handle one champion… and Master Yi at that." The man muttered and cursed for a while, before realizing something that made him very excited. He fixed the assistant with an evil grin. "Did… IT… agree to come?"

"Um… yes." The assistant glanced at his sheet. "It… agreed to come from its imprisonment on the condition we sacrifice thirteen living souls to it after the mission is complete."  
"Humph." Garth crossed his arms. "Fine. I'll just find thirteen idiots somewhere in my department later. I've got plenty of them." The huge man rubbed his eyes with hairy arms. His robes did nothing to cover his enormous stature. "So… who do we have in the meanwhile?"

The assistant glanced back down at his tablet.  
"Shen, Akali, and Kennen reported in. We have more Champions volunteering to retrieve Master Yi, they should be here within a couple of days."  
Garth rubbed his chin, deep in thought.

"Okay. Just pull those ninjas to the jungle and let'em loose. Let them do their ninja thing. They can all go to hell for all I care; they just have to stall for IT."  
"Understood, sir" The assistant bowed, and exited the tent, leaving Garth alone. The huge man smiled. He was savoring the anticipation. IT was coming. And he couldn't wait to set it loose.

* * *

_"Yi." Yi glanced back. It was Shen, and acting absolutely not like a ninja, was standing in plain view behind him._  
_"Master Shen." Yi nodded at him. "It's good to see you."_

_"Yi." Shen held out his hand, palm up. "Won't you come quietly? What is so important for you here?" Yi glanced at Shen's outstretched hand._  
_"Shen… I can't." Yi shook his head sadly. "If I go back, the ghosts I carry in my heart will never die." Yi swung his sword to his shoulder. "Or rather, I will never be able to kill them." Shen slowly lowered his hand in disappointment. He seemed to shrink._

_"Let it be so. We will take you back by force and beat some sense in you later." He raised his hand, and his comrades struck. Akali jumped from a tree to the left of Yi, and Kennen fell from the direction of the sun, shuriken in hand. The future vision of Yi was barely enough for him to dodge Akali's scythes and Kennen's shuriken. Yi knew instantly he was outmatched. He won a fight against three champions using dirty tricks. There was no way he could defeat three that ambushed HIM._

_"YI!" yelled Shen, who started his taunt, which was more than just words, but magically-infused shouts to force Yi to attack him. Yi overloaded his noise canceller on the back of his head, to emit a screeching noise block out the sound of Shen's taunt, and caused every ninja to grasp at their ears in pain. Ninjas have more sensitive ears than normal people do, Yi noticed._

_With that, Yi fled._

_"Wait!" yelled Shen, reaching out. "Yi!" As soon as they recovered, each Ninja dashed after Yi._

_Even with Highlander, Yi had trouble creating distance between the ninjas and him. He had to work every step to gain his advantage. Yi consulted his map. The sword HAS to be close by, he thought. He saw all of the landmarks near it. He rushed past a long-dead altar, an old Ionian Pavilion, and a stone dragon. These are all Ionian design, he realized. He had to be close. Yi stopped onto a blank stone clearing._

_It SHOULD be here! He searched around, confused, until he saw a slot in the ground._  
_Could it be…? Yi placed his sword into the slot._

_Nothing happened._

_Well, he was stumped. Yi tried to pull his sword out, but it was stuck. He pulled harder, but it was stuck fast. He pulled with all of his strength… and the sword came free… along with the ground. Yi fell into a deep chamber under the clearing._

_Looks like… it was just poor building design._

_Yi shook his head, and looked about. He was in a dusty old anteroom, with a raised platform in the middle. The light from the hole he broke through shone onto the center of the platform… and on it…_

_A sword. The sword. Yi stepped forwards, slowly, almost reverently. He glanced down an inscription on its side, and read it out loud._

_"Rlung Tsi Hya Tyan Gaor_

_The characters were in the Qin's dialect. It read: Dragon Rising From Ocean To Heaven. He knew those words from somewhere. But from where? He gripped the Dragon Rising sword. The grip felt good. But like all swords stuck in the ground, it was stuck fast._

_"Hell," Yi muttered. He pulled harder… and something in the sword pulled back. What was he to do? He let the sword have its way._

_AGGGGH! The sword suddenly started draining EVERYTHING from him. He felt his essence pour into the slowly warming steel, and the inscriptions seemed to glow. His life's works, skills, experiences, rushed into the sword like a river. It was like standing under a waterfall. It was like BEING a waterfall. He wanted to stop; stop the sword from robbing everything from him, but he was held fast to the blade. He just kept on draining, and draining himself further and further…._

_"Yi!" He heard Akali's voice ring out through the chamber. She found the hole he made in the clearing above. "Shen! I found him! He's here!"_

_Just… a little bit more…_

_Akali leapt from the hole to the ground, she ran at him, trying to tackle him… but finally, the sword came loose, and as Akali struck him, Yi stumbled back, clutching the Dragon Rising sword. Akali recovered, then circled him cautiously._

_"Yi…" Akali raised her scythes. "I don't want to hurt you." Yi raised his sword in response… and felt nothing. There was nothing. He held his sword clumsily and awkwardly; he no longer felt the flow of his chi. It was then he realized—the sword had robbed him of eight thousand years of training. He could no longer launch an Alpha Strike, no longer ignite his sword, nor could he meditate effectively. He was truly nothing now._

_Kennen and Shen appeared from the hole in the ceiling, and jumped on him from above. The three ninjas dog-piled him. He felt himself being restrained, but it no longer mattered. Yi hung his head in defeat as Shen hoisted him up. He, once called master, could no longer even hold the title. He had failed._

* * *

Ahri strolled through the tents of the League's encampment. Hundreds of summoners had gathered here to keep Master Yi under lock and key. Each one of them cast the banned spell, Emprison, on Master Yi in turn, keeping him indefinitely in stasis. He was locked under a tree, guarded by Akali, Shen, and Kennen. The spell cast a prison cage around the Master. He could talk, and look around, but he could not move an inch from the tight cage surrounding his sitting, praying form.

Akali eyed Ahri suspiciously as she approached.

"I'm here to see Yi. Let me pass?" Akali held her scythes up, but Shen came up behind Akali, and put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's alright, Akali. Let her pass." Akali glanced once at Shen, and then at Ahri, before lowering her scythes slowly. Ahri smiled at Shen, before walking over to the captured Wuju Blades-man. She sat at his side, and lay against the cherry blossom that he was resting against.

"Hello again, Yi-Yi." She smiled.  
"Hello, Ahri." Master Yi looked up at the fox. She seemed so much more human now, smiling. "I'm sorry for what I said about your humanity. You're as human as anyone in the league." Singed's image flashed through his mind for an instant before he recovered. "And more than many."

"Thank you." Ahri's tails started wagging, and she smiled more. "So did you find what you were looking for?" She leaned over to look at his new sword.  
"Yes," Yi held up his Dragon Rising sword. The League had tried to confiscate it from him, but it seemed it was now magically bound to him, and could not be more than ten feet from him. "I found what I was looking for… but I lost something else."

"Pretty..." Ahri admired the blade. "It looks strong… by the way, did you eat? I had my disciples bring kitsune tofu."  
Master Yi chuckled.  
"That's very fox-like of you, Ahri. I didn't know you bought into the myth that foxes like kitsune."

"That's not all, Yi." Ahri gestured to the disciple bringing the tofu. "Hae-In made it."  
"Hae-In?" Yi looked up at the serving woman. It… it really was…  
"My husband." She held laid the tray at his feet. "I'm glad you're still safe."

Yi looked up into the face of his wife. She was dressed in a simple garb, holding a tray of fried tofu. Her smile was more beautiful than anything he had seen since he left the institute. He bowed to Ahri and Hae-In.  
"Thank you… Thank you…"

"…So that's it."

Councilor Garth stood in an extremely dark tent. Seated, if you could call its pose that, in the center, was something spindly and inhuman. Its glowing emerald eyes burned maliciously as the Councilor offered his feeble excuses.  
"So… what you are telling me… is that the mission is already done." The voice that came out was like bubbling acid; it burned the ears and grated your soul.  
"Y-Yes." Why did he feel so afraid, wondered Garth. He was a Councilor of the League… and here was something that looked like it could barely hurt a sheaf of wheat.

"Now…" The being grated its teeth. "What does that have to do with my sacrifices? The thirteen you had promised me?"  
The Councilor decided to take a stand.  
"No mission, no sacrifices." Garth crossed his arms with finality. "I'm not going to risk my job, dragging thirteen dolts from their work, just to feed your fat arse." The figure instead clacked its teeth with annoyance.  
"You drag me from my home, pull me into the sun, lure me with promises of fresh souls and new meat. And then you betray me… Summoner… this is unacceptable." The figure fingered his scythe.  
"Go to hell!" Garth motioned out the door "You want souls so bad, go get it yourself! Selfish arsehole."  
The figure gave a wide smile; the grin was like a gash in its potato sack skull.  
"Is that an order… Summoner?"  
Garth's eyes widened, and he started to speak:  
"Wh-" And then the scythe came whizzing down, carving off the Councilor's hand. The huge man doubled up in pain, clutching his stump. "A-AARRGGGGH! AGGGH!"  
"Rejoice, summoner! I want not your tasteless soul! I desire virgins and bravehearts, heroes and saviors, to feed the emptiness within me!"

The Harbinger of Doom, Fiddlesticks, rose to feed…


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

AGGGH!  
A bloodcurdling scream split the peaceful scene by the cherry blossom. The three ninjas all drew their weapons, ready for any sign of danger.

"I'll go check it out," Akali announced, and slid up to the nearest tent. The clearing was a small hill that was surrounded by tents, boxing them in. There was a main entrance, but the canopies of the tents darkened the walkway into a dark corridor.  
Akali poked her head around the corner. There was no one.

"Shen!" She held her hand to her mouth while calling. "There's no one here—hurk!" Her eyes opened in surprise as a jagged scythe tore into her shoulder. She dropped to the floor, scrambling away, clutching her wound.

"Ka, ka, ka, ka" Fiddlesticks raised his scythe again. "Come here, my lovely." Akali 's eyes narrowed in annoyance. She gathered her scythes, and charged Fiddlesticks.

"Akali!" Shen yelled, "Back!"  
"Forget it Shen!" Akali yelled as she sped to Fiddlesticks. "he's yet another unworthy foe! And outnumbered!" Akali held her scythes out to her sides, and lunged.

"Shadow Danc-" She struck, but Fiddlesticks burst into a murder of crows on contact. "Wh—What the-?" Akali struck at the crows, but they quickly started flying around her, trapping her in a tornado of birds. "Wha—What? Shen? Kennen? Help me!" She rammed her shoulder into the flapping birds, but they stayed as solid as a wall.

"Ka, Ka." Fiddlestick's voice rang out from every crow's beak. "Yo are right, my lovely… on the Fields of Justice, I would be in deep sh*t… but unfortunately for you, the cursed League always limits my true powers during a Match. I found it annoying… but it worked to my advantage today." The crows started to close in on Akali. "Now… time to feed! Watch as I devour her wholly!"

"Shen?" Akali called out, her composure cracking, "I… I… Help!

"Hah!" Shen yelled, slamming against the crows. "No! Ki Strike! Vorpal Blade! Shadow Dash! Stand United!" Shen yelled out each of his trump cards as he tried to rescue Akali, but nothing worked, and by every passing second, more and more of Akali was stripped away by the flocking crows.

"Shen!" yelled Ahri, charging up a spirit orb, "Duck!" Shen turned to look just in time to duck down, as Ahri's glowing orb passed through the crows without affecting them, but on the way back, the orb punched a hole in the flapping birds. Shen and Kennen reached in to grab Akali, but only managed to get her halfway out before the hole closed, and she was stuck.

"Ouch! Ka, Ka. That HURT!" Fiddlesticks shifted form again, and turned instead into a pale, handsome man dressed in pitch-black rags. On his shoulder was Akali's unconscious form. "Oh… you dogs… that hurt." He gestured to a bruise on his cheek. "Whatever. I've had a nice appetizer, I mean, look at me! Just imagine what I'll be like once I have the full course in a more private place!"

Fiddlesticks laughed as he floated off in a flock of crows, with Akali still draped on his shoulder.

"After him!" Shen yelled, and he and Kennen took off. Ahri called Hae-In:  
"Hae-In! With me! We'll help them!" Hae-In nodded, and then glanced back a Yi for a second, before smiling. She took off her outer dress, and let down her hair. Four tails erupted from her backside, and white ears sprouted from her head.

She winked at Yi mischievously.

Sorry, she mouthed. And then she left with Ahri.

Still, Master Yi sat, trapped. It was several minutes before the last Emprison spell wore off.  
Apparently, in all of the confusion, no one bother to refresh his debuff. He hefted his Dragon Rising Blade. Still awkward, he realized gloomily. But he had to go. His wife was in danger, so he had to be there. Shen, Ahri, and Kenner were in danger, so he had to help. Akali was going to die, so he had to run.

Yi grabbed the Dragon Rising Blade, and dashed after the Harbinger of Doom.

He caught up to Shen and the others within a few minutes.  
"Yi!" Shen cried, "What are you doing here! Your skill-"  
"I will be fine," Yi stated firmly, "I am still the Yi you know."  
Shen seemed to want to protest… his eyes narrowed. But after a bit, he focused back onto the path, before nodding.

"We can always use more eyes. Fiddlesticks looks like he's headed to the Plague Jungles." Shen looked up worriedly at a slowly shrinking black figure, flying in the distance. "If we lose him, we'll never find him before-"

"With us? You won't." Everyone turned to look at the newcomers. Ashe, Tryndamere, and Anivia were running, or flying as fast as they could alongside them. Ashe motioned with her bow, and fired a crystal hawk from her bow ahead of them. The hawk quickly caught up to Fiddlesticks, and exploded on the monster's back. Instantly, everyone could see in their minds the Harbinger of Doom flying away. He was headed to a cave in the mountains.

"Let's move." Ashe commanded, loading another crystal hawk in her bow, and then firing. "It'll take a good amount of time to reach that cave."

The party raced deep into the jungle.

Fiddlesticks landed at the cave entrance, and laid Akali on the floor. She twitched on the floor, eyes rolled up in her head, murmuring nonsense.  
"Hehehehhah! Will I have time for the full course?" Fiddlestick stared out at the mountain slope ahead of his cave. But no. Already, the annoying pests were making their way up the slope. They were like flys buzzing around a juicy steak. Can't they leave a guy to dine in peace!

"Ugh…" The Harbinger sighed, annoyed. "I'll have to wait." He picked Akali up, and strolled into the cave.

Ashe fired another hawk down the cave tunnel, lighting up the path in everyone's eyes. No enemies were spotted.  
"Clear!" called Ashe, "Go!" Shen led the way, followed by Tryndamere and then Yi, and finally, Kennen, Ahri, Anivia and Hae-In brought up the rear. Ashe aimed outside, tracking for any opponents, before dashing in with them.

Fiddlesticks stood in the center of a large cavern, with the comatose Akali rolling by his feet. He clutched his scythe with full, human hands, and rubbed his bony, handsome face with his other hand. The party filed in the cavern, slowly spreading out around them.  
"Hey, hey," called Fiddlesticks. "Aren't we all friends here? Fellow champions, we should talk things out."

Ashe fired a frost arrow at Fiddlestick's head in response. The missile stuck in his head, and jerked it back. Fiddlesticks slowly brought his head back, and reached up with his free hand. In one tear, he ripped out the arrow lodged in his forehead.

"Guess not." Where the arrow punctured, grew an emerald eye. That eye shone green light in a beam, straight at Ahri, bathing her as she looked at herself, confused. The light started to intensify.

"Ahri-get-down!" yelled Yi, as he tackled the fox, knocking the two of them from the green light. The rock behind them that took the light exploded in a cloud of green smoke. Yi yelled at his allies, "Go!" All of them charged Fiddlesticks, who held the allies at bay with his explosive gaze. Everything the light touched exploded after a few seconds, dealing fatal damage. After being nicked on the cheek by a Ki Strike by Shen, Fiddlesticks grew irritated.

"Go to Hell!" the Harbinger screamed, and he exploded in another murder of crows, wrapping Shen, who flailed about helplessly. But that was a mistake, as Ahri and Hae-In immediately launched spirit orbs at the crows, which ate away at the trapping crows as Fiddlesticks screamed.  
He reformed at a spot fifty feet away, but Yi was already on top of that. His headhunter armor let him predict where Fiddlestick would show up. Yi thrust the Dragon Rising Blade into Fiddlestick's back, which bit shallowly. Fiddlesticks jerked forwards, clawing at his back.

His gaze fell on Akali.

"If I can't feed on her, then-" He raised his scythe, and brought it down, but a wall of ice stopped his blow, separating Akali and Fiddlesticks. He glared at Anivia, pure hate boiling over.  
"Die!" He shone his emerald light on the Cyrophoenix, and Anivia could not dodge; she was too slow.  
"Stand United!" yelled Shen, and he shielded Anivia from the explosion. Green smoke billowed about the Cyrophoenix, and she seemed injured, but she was left intact.  
Fiddlesticks widened his eyes in surprise, and turned to Shen.  
"Di—"

Shen slammed a fist into Fiddlestick's stomach, sending the Harbinger sprawling. Kenned flipped to the back of Fiddlestick's head, and slammed a stunning blow to the back of the Harbinger's skull. Fiddlesticks stumbled forwards, cursing, until he was tripped hard by Tryndamere, who had flung his sword underneath Fiddlestick's wiry legs. As Fiddlesticks looked up, he stared into the business end of Shen's ninja sword. Akali was being guarded by Kennen. The rest formed a concave around Fiddlesticks. He seemed to consider his options.

"I… I give up." Fiddlestick raised his hands, and knelt. The pale man submitted. Shen stepped forwards, and lowered his point for a secon—

"PSYCH! DIE!" Fiddlesticks stabbed himself with his scythe, over and over, creating gashes all over himself that spilled emerald light everywhere, filling the cavern. "GAHAHAH! HAHAHA! DIE! DIE!" There was not an inch of cavern that was not glowing green.  
Shen dashed to Akali, and shielded her as best he could with his body. Anivia draped herself over Ashe and Tryndamere's rising protests.

"Don't worry, children, I may still survive as an egg."  
"That's a LIE and you know it, ANIVIA!" screamed Ashe, as the she, a Queen, beat against the Cyropheonix's breast, crying.

Yi looked for Hae-In. He could at least protect her. But he didn't see her anywhere. There was only Ahri, kneeling, hand over her mouth in horror. She was staring at something—what?

The green light suddenly disappeared.

"HAE-IN!" screamed Ahri, "NO! NO!"

Time seemed to slow for Yi. His gaze travelled slowly up to where Fiddlesticks was. Hae-In had hugged Fiddlesticks as tightly as she could, blocking the majority of the light with her body. Her head was buried in Fiddlestick's disgusting chest as he stabbed her over and over again with his scythe, cursing her.

He stretched out a hand for Hae-In. His wife. She turned back, locked eyes with him... and smiled.

No. Not again.

The back of the cavern exploded. Rock fell in chunks larger than most houses. Fiddlesticks collapsed, leaving Hae-In standing, arms limp, head down. Blood dripped down her front. Soon she was swallowed up by the falling rocks as well, and there was silence.

Hey. I surrender now.

Look at me. I'm not even beautiful anymore. Just a stupid scarecrow, see? Caw, Caw. But broken, heheheh.

Hey. What're you doing with that sword? Help me, master.

Hey.

HEY

HE-  
AGGGH! AGGGH! HAAAAAAGHHHH!


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

_They were coming. Yi crouched low in the rushes by the riverbank. His allies waited alongside him._

_Master Yi leveled his Dragon Rising Blade at his final enemy; angling the tip at his heart. The disgusting monster was even more revolting in battle, with his thin, rotted limbs that moved awkwardly in battle, or his shrouded face that concealed horrific chemical burns. Singed. The Human-Chemical weapon walked slowly towards Yi with his allies, each more sinister than the last. He did not know they were there yet._

_This was it. Whoever claimed victory at this juncture would have a clear shot at their opponent's nexus. The duration of a respawn had been drawn out to an eternity. Every move was crucial._

_Yi let his sword drop; the razor sharp edge cut rivets in the muddy river water that they stood over. In the background, he could see the Baron Nashor, a monstrous purple serpent with a mouth as wide and dark as hell, writhe in his personal pool of muck and acid, ready to devour any champion foolish enough to fall in reach of his maw. To his back, he could sense his allies, tensing for the upcoming fight…_

_Unlike most other battles in the Fields of Justice, Yi was fighting alongside close friends this time. Like comrades, they were siblings of war._

_Singed and his party were coming. But Yi needed a little bit more. His friends were all injured, and their abilities had been spent._  
_He had come this far… Yi had evolved more in this past half-year than he had in any thousand. But an ultimate ability was still out of his grasp. After the Dragon Rising Blade had robbed him of all of his power, Yi had to learn new ones. But a truly devastating move eluded him._

_Please, Dragon Rising… Yi pleaded in his mind… Grant me the power to defeat my enemies. Give me the strength... to bring justice to Singed, and peace to my wife and village_

_He closed his eyes._

Three months before…

Yi sat alone, in the sanctuary. A slight winter breeze chilled Yi to the bone. But still he remained, sitting at the foot of a new mulberry tree, planted in honor of someone who gave her life for her friends. Yi lay against the trunk of Hae-In's tombstone.  
His tears had dried up. His quivers of rage and self-deprecation had lost their fire. Just like him.

He cradled the Dragon Rising Blade in his lap. The wretched blade had cost him so much… because of it, he had lost Hae-In, he had lost ten thousand years of training in the Wuju style, and most of all… he had lost faith in himself.  
So he decided to remain there until he died, until his friends could take his remains and bury them next to his last wife. So that sometime before the Last Judgment, perhaps he could find forgiveness from Hae-In.  
He decided, to let his hatred die out with him.  
He closed his eyes under his sight fold. The headhunter armor had robbed him of even more vision than Heimerdinger's goggles usually did. At this rate, within the next hundred years, he would be blind.

A heavy footfall cut through the sounds of the winter breeze.  
The footsteps sounded closer, and Yi could sense somebody standing over him. With a deep sigh, that somebody sat down next to him. The weight of the man caused the ground to tremor a bit.

"Hey man," the deep voice grated, "I'm sorry I never got the chance to fight ya."  
Yi lowered his head, and raised it.

"Master Jax." Yi pulled off his sight fold, and his failing eyes confirmed that it was Jax. The hulking figure sat with a knee up, arm on the knee, and his signature brass lamppost resting against his thigh. The man seemed depressed, although it was impossible to tell through Jax's thick clothes and his concealing helmet. And he noticed Ahri was there, too.

Ahri stood silently to the side of Jax, her head bowed in sadness. She was wearing white robes; the colors of mourning for Ionian culture. They must be for Hae-In, Yi thought. Just thinking her name made him ache.

"I'm less sorry," joked Yi, although his voice was cold, and his smile was distant. "I would not have wanted to fight you even with all of my skills intact."  
Jax glanced at Yi.

"So it's true, then?" Jax inquired, leaning it closer. "Your skills have vanished."  
Yi laughed another cold laugh, and held up his bundled Dragon Rising Blade. "Yes, and all I got from it was this stupid sword."  
"For this lump of metal… I lost my wife… I lost ten thousand years of Wuju training…" Yi slumped. "And I lost my faith in myself."

"…" Jax seemed troubled.

"Hae-In… I lost her… Just like Rixa…" Yi clenched his fists. "I couldn't save either of them… I failed!" Yi slammed the mulberry tree, causing tremors to shoot up the trunk, and shaking free hundreds of leaves that floated off in the wind. "I FAILED AGAIN!"  
His fist quivered against the trunk, as blood seeped out from between his hand and the bark of the tree.

Jax exhaled a bit.  
"It don't suit you." Jax turned to look at Yi. "Whining."  
"What?"

"Where's the man who defied the entire League of Legends for his revenge? That man who bragged he might crush the might of the League? That man was glorious, once. But now he's defeated, by the woman he loved, without a blow. " Jax looked down on Yi, and his helmet held a contemptuous angle. "Pathetic."

Yi felt anger boil over him like he hadn't felt in since he witnessed his village's fate.

"What would you know, mercenary?" Yi stood up quickly, "I know there is no purpose left for me in this world."  
"Singed still lives," Jax shot back, "his crimes on your wife and village go unanswered."  
"I have lost the power to kill him."  
"Train it back."  
"Ha! Ten thousand years of training, and you say 'train it back'!" Yi paced. "I have lost everything for my revenge! I don't want to find out if I have anything left for my vengeance to take! This revenge-"

"Idiot!" yelled a girl's voice, and Yi had just enough time to turn before Ahri's orb caught him full in the face.  
"Ooph!" Yi flipped backwards once before landing on his stomach. Ahri summoned three flames that sped at the injured master. Yi caught each flame in the stomach in turn; the magical explosions lifted him five feet in the air with each impact. Each time, he rolled over in pain.

Ahri grabbed Yi by the collar in front of an astonished Jax, and slapped him, hard. The last blow was almost as stunning to Yi as the first four.

"You lost 'everything', you said?" Ahri repeated, silkily. "Then what am I to you, Yi?" Ahri stared at him full in the eyes. "Are your friends so meaningless to you that you forget them? Just like that?" her voice softened to a whisper. "Am I nothing to you, Yi-yi?"  
Yi didn't answer. But a spark of life flickered in his eyes again.  
Ahri stood perfectly still for a while, staring at Yi, who didn't return her gaze.

She smacked Yi, and grabbed him by the back of the collar.  
"Jax, we're going." Ahri marched off, dragging Yi.  
Jax got up, and dusted off his robes.  
"To where, huh?" He tapped on Yi's head lightly with his lamppost. "And what're doing with him?"

Ahri glanced back.  
"Training. We're going to deliver justice to Singed."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The Sparring Pits. The duel arenas of the Institute of War. The ugly, hive-like and jagged structure loomed on a mountain north of the Institute of war. Seven circular arenas, each of them crafted out of what looked like junk, formed a larger, circular super-structure, six forming an outer ring and one in the center, in which Champions could test their might in one upon one duels. The fights were all extremely dangerous, as many Champions are as powerful as demi-gods, and all fights were fought with only the protection afforded in the Fields of Justice. Challenges are not lightly given, as they could easily result in death.

As such, many of the most powerful Champions cause the Sparring Pits to clear out if they even stray close enough to the pits.

Jarvan the Fourth, the Exemplar of Demacia was sitting at the long tables, a jug of ale in his hands, chatting with his subjects over his latest victory. He didn't know it, but both Xin Zhao and Garen had held back in thei in the arenas, but they both knew Jarvan didn't have to know that. Jarvan laughed uproariously at a joke he just told, and took a swig of ale, before something caught his eye.

Three somethings, strolling through the entrance.

Jax always turned many heads as he strode in through the entrance gate. The Grandmaster at Arms was the undisputed champion of the Sparring Pits, and his presence always caused a great deal of animosity and jealously. More than a few of the combatants milling about ground their teeth at the sight of him, wanting to finally usurp the King from his throne, but unable to.

More heads turned at the sight of Ahri, who was following the Grandmaster. Mages and the like were very rarely seen in the Sparring Pits, as all combat was unguarded, a wrong hit with a very real weapon would break bones and crush organs. On the flip side, few flat human warriors, like Fiora or Gangplank, had any sort of defense against an orb of pure magic, or a wave of fire. As such, magic versus physical fights were always short, fast, and deadly.

But the most surprising appearance by far was Master Yi's, as the rumor that he had lost his capability to fight had spread like wildfire through the Institute. That the Master would even show up in such a dangerous environment was incredible, even more now that he was nothing more than an average man with a sword.

Jax strode up to a dirty booth set into a rock wall, and tapped the cell bars separating him and the snoozing attendant.

"Marcus. Wake up and give me the keys to Arena Zero."  
The attendant, a fat, balding man with a frizzy red bread, woke up flustered.

"Whe—Who? Oh… Jax" Marcus the Attendant rubbed his eyes, and rummaged in a bag stained suspiciously with something that looked like blood. He muttered darkly at the enormous man as he fumbled. "Dammit, I wuz sleeping, man." He slammed a rusty ring of keys into the slot in the bars.

"Here yeh go, yeh impatient basterd. One set'o keys… So, who's the unlucky… dead meat nah… ow!" Marcus whistled as he noticed Ahri behind the hulking Grandmaster. Marcus blushed a bit as he tipped his head at the fox. "'Cuse me, Ma'am! I didn't know someone as fine as yeh… I mean…" Marcus turned and whispered to Jax. "Don't break her, 'kay? It'd be a tragic loss to men, everywhere."

Ahri huffed, annoyed.  
"Not me," She jerked her thumb at Yi. "Him." The attendant didn't notice her, and was too busy miming humping movements to Jax.

"Ugh!"  
The Nine-Tailed Fox grabbed Yi and Jax, and strode angrily towards their arena. They took a short corridor down, before arriving at another cell door, with seven locks in it. Ahri took each key in turn, and unlocked each of the locks, grunting with effort. The aging mechanics groaned, and a rumbling sound rung off of the stone walls. A cage rose to meet the cell door, and the door swung open with a piercing creak.

Jax nudged Yi into the cage.

"In you go. I'll meet you on the other side." Yi took a light step in and turned to face the two. The cell down was closing slowly. Jax gave Yi a thumbs-up, but Ahri remained stony-faced. Yi hung his head, and leaned against the cage walls. He was so tired…

The cell doors almost closed, before Ahri gave an exasperated "Ugh!" and darted into the cage. Yi imagined he could see Jax's eyebrows shoot into his forehead, as he watched the hulking man disappear upwards, as the cage sunk into the ground. The two Champions stood in silence as the cage-elevator rumbled its way to their arena. Seconds dragged on into what felt like hours, as Ahri stared determinedly off into space.

"Ahri…" Yi started to say, but the Fox turned her head even further.  
The cage ground to a halt, and the front door popped open. Yi took a step forwards, before Ahri blurted out, "Yi!"

Yi stopped, and turned to face her.  
"I'll fix you. Somehow." She pushed him out.

They strode out into arena.

The earth was a grayish dirt, ground out in a circular fashion, with steep walls rising all around them. Seven pillars stood proud in the fading sun, crafted from the hardest iron, fashioned to look like stone pillars, and magically-runed to withstand the toughest the League Champions to throw at them. At the top of the walls, the spectator's stands rose to crown the arena. Practically the entire Sparring Pits had dropped everything to watch Jax fight.

Jax was standing in the center, his trusty lamppost at ready. Yi had fought the deadly light fixture before. Jax handled the improvised weapon as if were the most balanced edge, and he could easily crush steel and rock with the brass staff.  
Jax swung the lamppost up, and held it in front of him.

"Yi… " Jax tensed up. Yi slowly brought his Dragon Rising blade up. The sword felt as awkward as ever in his clumsy hands. Jax sighed, as he registered Yi's discomfort with the blade. The man shook his head slightly.  
"I hope this works," he muttered, as he leapt and struck.

Yi woke up. The world seemed to be running colors again. No. Jax had just grazed him, for the twentieth time, it seemed. The Wuju master was sprawled at the base of one of the pillars, bruised, bloodied, and confused. He and Jax had been sparring for the last half hour. No, sparring would be the wrong word. Slaughtered would be better fitting, except that with each blow, Jax held back tremendously. Yi would have been killed several times over if not for the Grandmaster's mercy.

Yi tried to stand, using his sword as a support, but he collapsed as his knees gave out. Yi raised a hand. He was done.  
"No… no more."

Jax slumped, and struck the brass of his lamppost into the ground.  
"Is that really it, Yi? No spark, no nothing?"

Yi sadly shook his head. He truly was human now. So many times during the fight, he tried to launch an Alpha Strike, but the Wuju arts that let him slip into Slipspace to appear behind the foe was lost to him now. His pinnacle art of Chi focus, his Meditation, constantly evaded his grasp. His Wuju style was lost to him.

"Ahri… Jax… I'm sorry." Yi pulled himself up and started towards the exit.  
"You've GOT to be kidding me!" Ahri slammed Yi hard with a spirit orb. Yi collapsed onto the ground. This was not the first time that Ahri had lost her temper during the fight. Once she nearly killed the two of them with a dash straight into the middle of them that shot lightning bolts into their guts. "You CAN'T be done already! You can't!" Ahri grabbed Yi by the collars and started shaking him. "I promised! I'd fix you!"

She head-butted Yi, smashing into his seven-lensed helmet. Fortunately, Heimerdinger's craftsmanship was too good for his work to be damaged as easily as that. Unfortunately, fox's skulls are not crafted meticulously from tempered steel, and Ahri's skull broke.

"…!" Ahri crumpled wordlessly as she clutched at the helmet-shaped dent in her forehead.  
Yi reached out, but she brushed it off, seriously pissed now. She strode up to Jax, and punched him in the gut. Of course, it did nothing but confuse Jax.

"Ahri… what are you-?"  
Ahri grabbed his lamppost, and put the business end on her head.  
"Hit me." She was dead serious. Jax looked around, before moving in closer, wondering if he had heard wrong.

"What?"

"Hit. Me." Ahri punctuated each word with a tap on the lamppost. Ahri glanced back at Yi, taunting him. Yi had never felt as confused in his entire life, which was saying something. "If you don't care about yourself, or your revenge enough that you won't take this training seriously, Yi…" Ahri fixed Jax with deathly stare. "Let's see how you care about somebody else."

"Jax. Hit. Me."

There were murmurs of confusion, and protests from the spectators at this proclamation, and Jax shrugged helplessly.  
"Ahri, I'm not going to hit you."

Ahri gave a very fox-like growl, and then stomped off to one of the spectating walls. She called out to a observing Summoner.  
"You there! Summoner! What's your name?"

The Summoner looked around confused, before calling back down,  
"I'm a big fan of yours, Miss Ahri! My name is-"

"Whatever." Ahri blew him a kiss. "Summoner, your heart is mine…" The spell stuck the poor boy straight in the face, and he immediately gazed longingly at Ahri, in a trance.  
Ahri called out in her sweetest voice, "Summoner, is your every desire mine?"  
"Y-Yes… my Ah…Ahri…"

"Good… now take control of the Grandmaster at Arms for me, pretty please?"  
"Y-Ye.." The Summoner made an outward motion with his hands, and a glass-like orb sprung out of nowhere at his fingertips. The image in the glass orb locked onto Jax as he and Yi yelled out in confusion.

"Ahri! What're you doing?" Yi yelled, struggling to his feet.  
Ahri turned back, and smiled at him, as the Summoner seized control of the Grandmaster at Arms. The Grandmaster slumped forwards, arms limp.

"Yi…" Ahri called out, "I'm fixing you..." She turned to the Charmed Summoner.

"Summoner..."

Ahri took a deep breath.

"Use Jax to kill me." Immediately, Jax leapt with deadly force, and slammed into Ahri as hard as he could with his lamppost.

"No!" Yi reached out with his hand, as he saw Ahri cry out in pain, and go tumbling across the arena. Many of the spectators were calling out in protest at the brutality, and those that were Champions immediately tried to intervene, but the ever-present magic barrier separating the combatants from the audience kept them at bay.

Jax ran at full force with his lamppost. He called out desperately, "Yi! I can't stop myself! I'm not in control!"

Jax leapt again, intending to crush Ahri's skull, but the Fox Spirit Dashed out of the way, narrowly avoiding the fate of the iron pillar behind her, which was crushed at the base, despite its strengthening charms. Jax immediately ran at Ahri again, charging his lamppost with additional power. His lamppost shone gold with the energy as he swung at Ahri again with killing force. The Fox narrowly escaped death once more with a desperate dash. Jax's full-force blow caused a crater the size of a small house to erupt in the center of the arena. The ground shook with Jax's latent magical power.

"Ahri!" Yi called out, as he struggled to his feet. "Stop this!"  
Ahri pulled herself up, knees shaking. No one had ever seen the Grandmaster fight seriously outside of the Fields of Justice. His un-bridled power was a terrifying and awesome sight.

"Yi… You put so much pressure on yourself, to protect. For your friends… for those you love… you would die for them." Ahri gave a grim smile. "I know that about you. That's why…" She spread her arms out as Jax started his ultimate strike. The arena started to buzz with the magical energy overflowing from his lamppost. Despite it being unplugged, the lamppost shone brighter than the sun, and darkened the arena around it.

"I'm going to be like you. I'm dying for a friend right here. I trust you, Yi." She left herself defenseless as the Grandmaster leapt.

"AHRI!" Yi stood, and crouched. He prayed desperately to the sword.

_Dragon Rising! Of all the times… please! Give me strength!_

The sword started to warm, and he felt… something! He'd take it.

He leapt.

The arena exploded. A storm of dust slammed against the magical barrier, and the spectators reared away from the torrent. It was like watching a hurricane within a glass cup as the energy exploded against the barrier, and then upwards into the sky. The storm raged for a half of a minute, before slowly clearing out.

When the dust cleared, the Grandmaster was standing in the center, alone. His full-force blow had caused a crater the breadth of the arena to erupt. All seven of the pillars were strewn about the scene like twigs after a storm. Many of the audience groaned as they feared the worst. Jax himself, now free of control, gripped his face in despair.

And yet, at the far side, there crouched two figures. Yi held Ahri in one arm, and the Dragon Rising in the other. He was smiling, as he slumped onto his sword in exhaustion, but his grip held a new-found confidence. Ahri smacked Yi on the back of his head, laughing.

"Yi… you did it."

The spectators started cheering, as some Champions just started running from the cages to enter the arena to help.  
Yi limped up to the relieved Jax, and gripped his forearm.

"Tommorow. Again."  
They smiled.


	9. Chapter 9

**WARNING:**** The last section of this chapter is **_**extremely**_** disturbing! I even feel like more of a rapist just for writing it, so please, if you are under 13, please skip over everything past..**_**."I'll see ALL of you, parts of you even you've never seen yourself, ."**_** You won't be missing anything but a bit of a colorful characterization to Singed.**

**Chapter 9**

_Rah!_

Clang!

Yi parried yet another hefty blow from Jax from above. Yi's sword bit halfway in Jax's lamppost, locking the weapons together. The impact was so heavy, it caused his feet to sink into the ground an inch, but otherwise, he was fine. Yi drew his sword in a circle, catching the lamppost along all the way, until he forced the light fixture on the ground. Yi gave his Dragon Rising Blade a minuscule lift, giving him the position to strike hard at the Grandmaster's exposed shoulder. He felt the blade bite into tough cloth, and then chainmail, before he drew the blade back the full length, cutting into flesh like a saw. Blood shot out of Jax's wound, and the huge man quickly withdrew, grunting in pain.

Jax clutched at his shoulder, breathing heavily.

Yi smiled, triumphant… then he fell to a knee, grasping at his side. Jax had used the micron of an opening created by Yi when he lifted his Dragon Rising blade, to ram his lamppost hard into Yi's ribs. He hoped none of them were cracked.

He slowly rotated his sword upwards, circling Jax all the while. Watching. Waiting. Jax started circling Yi right back; neither one of them breaking eye contact. He tipped his lamppost low. The fight broke out in a flash. Jax swept upwards with his lamppost so quickly it was a blur. Yi barely avoided the sweep by crouching low to his right, but the light fixture glanced his helm, and a with loud, clear,

_Clang!_

Yi's temple rattled against his helm. Yi clutched his head as his brain bounced about his skull. Without pause, Jax attacked again, forcing Yi to roll to his side to avoid a downwards blow so powerful that it left a lamp-shaped crater in the ground. Reaching for the swords that were strapped to his boot, Yi tossed one foot-sword after another out at Jax. Jax avoided one spinning blade by nimbly jumping to one side, and caught the other by the shaft of his lamppost. The second sword lodged itself deep in the wood of his lamppost; its red tassel at the end of the handle of the blade flicked about in the wind.  
Jax spun his Lamppost above his head; a fighting stance that he created himself, allowing him to instantly bring his lamppost downwards, and deflect enemy blows with his spinning weapon, finishing with a stunning strike to the head. It was his Counter-Strike stance. He was arriving fast.

Yi crouched.  
And with focus, he gave himself up to the Slipstream.

As his mind entered into the fifth dimension of space, the world melted and colors ran like wet paint on a canvas. He could see only two things.

The red tassels of his foot-swords.

He took a single, tiny step towards the first tassel, probably the one lodged in Jax's lamp.  
And he fell forwards in a rush of speed, dragging his sword behind him. Yi grabbed onto the tassel, and yanked hard. He could feel the Grandmaster struggling to protect his weapon, but in this world, Yi was stronger than anyone. Yi wrenched the red tassel, foot-sword, and lamppost from the blurry Grandmaster's hands, and then sped towards his second foot-sword.

As soon as Yi grabbed onto his blade, he released himself from the Slipstream's grasp.  
Yi hit the ground at over 60 kilometers an hour, tracking skid marks for over a hundred feet. When he finally stopped, he slammed the end of the lamppost down.

This was his first discovered ability, the one he saved Ahri's life with. The ability of the fleet foot, **Blades Dash**!

Jax remained motionless, arms down. He was weaponless now.  
Yi tossed Jax his lamp, and the Grandmaster caught it wordlessly. Jax lowered his lamp again, and started walking very slowly towards Yi. The Grandmaster did not take kindly to mercy. He was going to make Yi pay for the Wuju Bladesman's grace.

Magical energy poured once more from the Grandmaster's body, and Yi could see that Jax was increasing his defenses with the magic. Jax's feared ultimate, Grandmaster's Might, reduced all but the most piercing of strikes to less than half strength. Armored by his magic, Jax charged in with his lamppost shining bright. The Grandmaster struck once at Yi, slamming hard into Yi's raised blade. With each strike, Jax grew faster and faster with his blows. Each parry rang loud in the arena, throwing up a cacophony of the sounds of battle. As incredible as it was, Yi could scarcely believe his legendary sword could withstand such a relentless assault from a light fixture.

Yi dragged his sword upon the ground, drawing it forwards, and then kicked upwards at the base of his blade, adding force to his upwards strike. Jax deflected the blow even further upwards with a deft block with the butt of his lamp. Yi used the force generated by Jax to soar high into the air, at least twenty feet up into the blinding sunlight, and he flipped the Dragon Rising sword downwards in a reverse grip, turning the sword into a vicious spike.

"Prepare yourself, Jax!"  
"Bring it, Yi!"

Yi ignited his sword with the arts of Wuju. But instead of the blue flames of the Wuju Style sprouting from the edge of his blade, Ionian Runes and Hexes shaped like branches shot out from the inscriptions in his blade, until it looked as if Yi's blade had transformed into a glowing tree.

This was the advanced form of Wuju style, the art of the Runed Blade, **Wuju Prison**! A strike by his Wuju-infused blade would root the opponent to the ground, and steal life from them.

Yi slammed his sword into the ground, and all about him, glowing green branches shot and angled sharply out of the ground, wrapping them about Jax; slowing his movements and attacks. Meanwhile, all about Yi, the branches wrapped all over his torso, and his feet, and his right arm, rapidly increasing his own attack speed. Finally, branches wrapped about his heart, elevating his blood flow, and making him as swift as the wind.

His third ability, Wuju Prison, combined the leap, with the heavy strike into the ground, forming his next technique-

It was Wuju style's path of the gallant charge into battle, **Braveheart**!

Branches wrapped all about the Grandmaster, forcing the man to break dozens of tiny snares with each movement he made. But Jax did not retreat. He pumped even more energy into his lamppost, until it shone like the sun again.

"Jax!" yelled Yi, bringing his blade down low.

Jax wordlessly swung his lamppost up, and brought the light fixture down like it was the sky crashing down on Yi. The runed branches saved Yi here, giving Yi barely enough agility to avoid the crushing blow. Yi stepped to the side, avoiding the strike, and caught the lamp on his blade. Yi gripped his blade with both hands, and with gritted teeth, he pushed hard upwards upon his sword. The edge ate into the lamppost, and time seemed to slow. Yi knew what was going to happen before it would.

Yi swung his foot up, and kicked the back of his sword as hard as he could. The final force cut the lamppost's head clean off, leaving the Grandmaster with nothing but a chopped stick.

Yi took a punch to the ribs for the move, so he flipped backwards, and struck right back with a butterfly kick delivered straight to the Grandmaster's chest, separating the two for a moment.  
The Grandmaster still would not give up. Not surprising, given that Jax could fight in the league with nothing but a magically infused paper tube, but this was the edge over the Grandmaster that Yi finally needed.

Yi swung his blade true, and as the Grandmaster was forced to block the strike, Yi hacked the shaft in half. Jax immediately spun the wood sticks in his hands like batons, but Yi quickly cut the improvised weapons to tiny pieces with three short chops. Jax dropped to a hand-to hand fighting stance. Yi was not going to get cocky. He used his sword as zone control, sweeping his sword, denying Jax the many different areas where the Grandmaster at-Arms could possibly run in a tackle from.

Yi feinted a horizontal sweep with his sword, and then reversed directions and spun low, sweeping Jax off of his feet with a kick to the back of his legs. Jax immediately bounced back up to a kneeling position, but Yi was there first. Jax slowly looked at his throat, and up to the sword pointed at it.  
Jax sighed, in slight disbelief.

"I yield." He raised one hand.

Ahri cheered from the spectators' stands, but she was the only one. A cold silence swept through the observers of today's match. The audience this time was marking out a new contender for the rightful place of strongest in the Sparring Pits. The jealousy and contempt hung in the air like a fog.

"Only one win out of twenty," muttered the Sinister Blade, Katarina, as she stalked off from the stands, handily skipping over the fact that no one had ever defeated Jax in a duel, no matter how many times any of them, including Katarina herself, had tried. Others wordlessly streamed away from the stands. Master Yi laughed a bit, and sat down on the ground. Katarina was right. He had only a single win, after all of that. But it was a start.  
Jax walked over to Yi, clutching his shoulder.

"You should have won more, you know." Jax playfully bounced a chuck of wood chopped off of his lamppost off Yi's head. "You still haven't found an ultimate ability, have you?"  
Yi shook his head. Such a secret eluded him. He had tried his Highlander form again, but to no avail. His old abilities were lost to him. He had scoured ancient scrolls of Wuju, and found nothing that he could perform.

_Where ever the secret lies, Yi thought, it must be locked within this sword…_

He held the Dragon Rising up to the light. The perfect edge was flawless, and totally without a scratch or blemish, despite the abuse that he put the blade through.  
"Yi." Jax put a hand on the Master's shoulder. "Are you sure you want to go through with it today? You still have time to learn. You could train more." Yi shook his head.

"I will bring justice to Singed tomorrow."  
He looked up to the stands. There were only a few spectators left in the stands. He imagined one of them was Singed. And hate boiled up inside him once more.  
"Let's go."

The Next Day...

There was a grand ceremony for the event. Today was a historic day. It was the first time a champion had ever declared a grievance against another within the Institute of War, and demanded a Ruling on the Fields of Justice. Historians flocked to the Institute of War to witness what may set enormous precedent for years to come. In the far back were the thousands of Summoners that practiced their craft in the Institute. At the center, each seated on thrones, were the 3 High Council members. In front of them, the champions were assembled within the Grand Hall of the Institute of War, each lined up according to their respective allegiances. The Ionians stood at the West side of the Hall, with Master Yi at the front representing Ionia. The Noxians and allied Zaunites lined up by the Eastern side, with Singed representing the Noxian side. Seated in front of the neutral sector was Miss Fortune, representing everyone who had less than 1 sh*ts to give. The pirate hunter sat yawning on a stool.

High Councilor Relivash was seated in between his fellow Council members. The man radiated strength and authority, despite being hidden in his clothes; cloaked in a purple and blue robe and hood like all Summoners were. He rose, as soon as the last of the Summoners had been accounted for, spread his arms, and called out in a deep, powerful voice:

"Summoners and Champions! Today we have a most serious matter to resolve at hand." The Councilor turned his hooded head to face Master Yi, and swept his hand towards him. "Master Yi, the Wuju Bladesman, has lodged a formal accusation against another who resides within these very walls." The Councilor then turned to face Singed, who was staring wordlessly at Master Yi. The Master shot his own stare right back. "Singed, Chemist of Zuan, and brain-parent of chemical weapons employed by Noxus during their occupation of Ionia. You stand accused, of mass murder of the village that Master Yi once called home. Four hundred, eighty-six accounts of the murder of men, women, and children is no light crime. How do you plead?" In reply, Singed eyed Yi carefully.

"I defer judgment to the Ruling on the Fields of Justice." Hearing this, Relivash turned gravelly to Yi.  
"And you, Master?" Master Yi returned Singed's gaze.  
"I defer judgment to the Fields of Justice."

"Excuse us, gentlemen," Swain called from the Noxian side, planting his one foot upon the stools that all champions were given. His crow gave a croaking CAW, to add to the commotion. The Master Tactician rested an elbow upon his knee, letting his crow hop onto his shoulder. "But is this legal? The League was created to resolve disputes between city-states and organizations, not people and their… petty disputes." At this, the Ionian side started an outraged shout, but Yi silenced them with a raised hand. High Councilor Relivash again spoke:

"The Council recognizes High General Swain, of Noxus. Your grievances are correct. There is no precedent, or legal base for Master Yi's actions. That is because they are not his actions alone. Representatives from Ionia have formally lodged a complaint against Zuan, demanding that Singed of Zuan be tried for his involvement in the massacre that struck Yi's home village. This complaint has been recognized as a formal demand of action, and is treated as a Ruling between Ionia and Zuan. Now tell me, High Commander Swain, is there no precedent for that?"

Swain stared coldly back at Relivash, and backed down, unhappy at being out-maneuvered.

Singed spoke up at this point.  
"So if this is a ruling between two city-states…" Singed trailed off here, until Relivash nodded. "Then on one side of the balance is my life. And on the other side, to balance the scales, must be a reward." Signed started chuckling. "Then what do I gain from winning? There needs to be some… fairness here, no?"

Relivash did not respond, and after a bit of silence, Singed continued: "So since the Ionians are demanding something from me, then I may take something from them… isn't that right… honorable Master?"  
Master Yi looked back to his comrades. He could never demand something from them just for his revenge.

Yi spoke slowly:  
"…I could never take something from my Brothers and Sisters for my justice. I don't want a vengeance won by sacrifice from anyone else." Master Yi scanned across his allies' faces. All Ionians stood with him in the line. Karma strode forwards, and declared:

"I speak for the Elders of Ionia, Master. And they've decided we're with you."

"As the Captain of the Ionian Guard," Irelia declared, standing up from her stool, "I say you have the support of our armed forces."

"The wintery nation of Freijord stands with you as well," Ashe called out from the back of the crowd, with her husband nodding behind her. "Your will is ours, Yi."

"The balance is broken by the existence of Singed," Shen called out, from between Akali and Kennen. Shen's voice poured out from behind his implacable mask. "All evil must be paid in blood for the world to return to equilibrium. And we also owe you a debt. We fight with you, Yi!"

"Yi…" Ahri put a hand on his shoulder, then pushed him forwards. "We're all with you. Go get him."

Suppressing a grin, Yi turned back to the assembly.  
"Singed, Zuanite mercenary." Yi pulled out his sword, and struck it into the ground. The Dragon Rising blade cut into the runed stone a half foot deep. "We'll take your demands."

Singed let out a hissing sort of laugh. "Oh, I'm not sure you will, honorable Master…Because you'll regret it when you lose." Singed kept on laughing, until he saw he garnered no response from the Ionian side. "What I want… is a research facility." He let the dramatic tension build in the assembly hall. "A research facility based in Ionia." His grin spread until you could see it from behind his filthy face cloth. "For eighteen years, the Ionians shall sacrifice eighteen citizens hailing from their regions to my testing facilities. There they will… 'try out' my new products. Nothing fancy, you see. After a year, of course the volunteers are allowed to leave…" Singed's body started heaving in laughter.

"Provided… MUAHAHAHA… that they still can! In fact-"  
"Enough!" Yi called out, furious. The craven beast had no morals! "We'll take your deal, Singed!"

Signed calmed down at Yi's fury, and turned to him, eyeing him hungrily.  
"Oh, how very dramatic of you," Signed let his words come oozing out of his mouth like slime, dripping with sarcasm. "…Honorable. Master. Yi. But I wonder how confident you'll be in a minute, because the first test subject I want… is you."

Yi inhaled sharply at this, and gave a grim smile.

"Perfect." Yi's grip tightened on his sword.

"How have you lived so long, I wonder?" Singed crossed the assembly hall, to cradle his hand under Yi's face, full aware the Wuju master was a hair's breadth away from cutting the appendage off. "Within you, I shall find the secret to immortality." Singed gave a thoughtful look, and added, with a finger raised, "And by that, I mean, _literally_ within you."  
"Base cur." Yi hissed. "Within YOU, there isn't a scrap of potential to master the secrets of Wuju. I'd have better luck teaching a rock."

"ENOUGH!" High Councilor Relivash yelled out, "The negotiations are concluded now, no matter how disgusting they were. Both of you, BACK!" Once the champions retuned to their posts, Relivash turned back to the assembly, and nodded twice to his fellow High Councilors, before speaking again: "To decide the fate of the accused Singed, we shall let the Divine forces judge these two men upon the Fields of Justice."  
Relivash walked over to Yi, and held his hand above his forehead, holding a heavy chain in his hand, an inch away from contact.

"Master Yi of Ionia. By accepting the Ruling of the Fields of Justice, you turn your fate over to the Holy Arbiter, the Divine Truth, who we shall call judgment upon you. Should you prevail upon the Fields of Justice, it shall be known throughout Runeterra that Justice and Truth was by your side, and that you were granted the strength to seize victory by it. Do you accept?"  
"I do."  
"Then so I bind you to its Ruling." Relivash lowered his chain, and then walked solemnly over to Singed.

"Singed, Chemist of Zuan. By accepting the Divine Truth's judgment of your accusation, you turn your fate over to It. Should you prevail in the Fields of Justice, let it be known that your demands are due payment for blasphemy and corrupted employment of the Judgment of the Celestial Adjucator, the Divine Truth. Do you accept?"  
"I very… much do."  
"Then so I bind you to Its Ruling." Relivash then turned to face the center, in between the opposing sides, and held out his arms. "Then, Yi of Ionia, Singed of Zuan, name the Champions who shall represent you on the Fields of Justice."

Singed looked back at those who had gathered under his support, all with him either by being bribed by his Noxian benefactors, or by being bullied into it by those who had superiors and interests to protect.  
"I name the Bloodhunter, my mentor, Warwick of Zuan." The werewolf growled in affirmation, slobbering over his table.  
"The Fallen- oh, I'm sorry, 'wronged'—," corrected Singed sarcastically as Morgana's eyes narrowed angrily at the epithet. "…angel, Morgana."  
"The Blade's Shadow, Messer Du Coteau's lapdog, Talon" The assassin gave no indication he heard; Talon only flicked his blade in out of his sleeves in impatience.  
"And that hideous beast that my Noxian friends only managed to persuade with bribes after sacrificing thirty men and a perfectly good cow… what was its name again?" Relivash's mouth gave an annoyed twitch at the Chemist's lackadaisical attitude.  
"Cho'Gath."  
"Ah yes, that thing. It looks quite nasty, doesn't it? Now for the last Champion… hm…" Singed pretended to look thoughtful about his next choice. "Ah, yes." His mouth widened to a disgusting grin again. "Myself."

Relivash nodded gravely, and turned to Master Yi.  
"And you, Master?"  
Yi already knew who he was going to call. Those that stood with him over the past days. He opened his mouth, and called out loudly, so the whole assembly could hear:  
"I name the Eye of the Twilight, Shen of the Kinkou." At this, Shen rose from his stool, turned, and bowed to Yi, with his hands raised and clenched together.  
"The Kinkou owe you an unpayable debt for the life of our Fist of the Shadow, Master." The other two Kinkou ninjas bowed to Yi with Shen. "We will fight with you."  
"Ashe, the Frost Archer, Queen of Freijord."  
"Smart choice, Yi." Ashe gave a thin smile. "We'll kill em!"  
"Ahri, of the province of Han-Gul." Ahri smiled, and let her bunched-up tail flourish.  
"Thanks for not saying 'Nine-Tailed Fox', Yi." Ahri knocked him on his head. "But it's alright. On the Fields of Justice, I'll be whatever you need me to be."

Singed's voice cut in to the assembly hall again.  
"You name a fox, a woman with a child's weapon left in the Icebox for a day, and a highly visible ninja." Singed mocked, as he listed out Yi's allies. The entire Noxian line, and more from the neutral side, laughed at the taunts. "I see you really want to lose."  
Yi gave a smile right back, as he called out his fourth candidate.

"And I name the Grandmaster at-Arms, Jax, of no nation."  
Singed's smile disappeared like it was wiped off his face, and the laughter died out immediately. Nobody forgot Jax's hundred and fifty-two long winning streak on the Fields of Justice before he put a lamppost in his own hands. Nobody doubted he could do it again.

"One man will not change the tide of the battle, honorable Master. You will be mine."  
"And then I name myself."

At this, Singed smiled, and then sat back down. His eyes told Yi everything.

_You're mine now, Yi._

Yi wordlessly told him right back.

_Bring it on._

"Then we shall carry forth the Ruling with all haste," state Relivash, as the audience started filing out of the assembly hall. "Tomorrow, we shall see. Prepare yourself, Champions."

As everyone filed out, Singed threw out one last call:  
"Thank you for your organs, Yi. I'll see you tomorrow." Singed taunted, "In a couple weeks from now, I'll see ALL of you, parts of you even you've never seen yourself... Huhuhue!"  
"And I'll see your diseased head separated from their shoulders." Yi turned, and started to leave. But Singed gave a disturbing shudder of anticipation. The madman spoke again:

"I'll ask for your pretty little fox, too." Singed whispered, licking his lips. "I mean that young, fresh meat that's always clinging to your side. But don't fret-I won't kill her immediately. You see, I'll bet she's a scientific marvel, with all sorts of juicy secrets lurking within those attractive curves. And I'm also fascinated to see what her little pups will grow to be—human, or animal—or less than both?"

"I'll keep her forever, in the research facility you gave me, breeding a little fox clan with her womanly traits, and cutting each of her pups open, or using them to breed even more little fox pups, to see if I can't make a potion to combine bestial and human traits. I'll be more than gentle with her, Yi, you'll see. I'll make you watch over her to make sure.

"And by the time I've sucked every last bit of useful data from her bloodline, and yours, I'll become more than human! I'll become a chemical-based king... no, GOD of Runeterra. And at that time, I'll be a more than merciful god. I'll reach out to my devoted tool, that by-then exhausted little fox. I'll pat her head if she has enough of it left to pat, and whisper my thanks to her for her service to me, even though she may no longer have ears. She'll be so, so tired, but I'll let her know that rest is coming. I'll whisper to her kind, sweet words, perhaps words a bit like you would have whispered to her, if you didn't take on this fool-hardy challenge, and then I shall then kindly, gently, put her down."

Singed smiled.  
"And I'll do it in front of you. And then it will be your turn; you see, I am not so cruel. I will send you lovebirds to hell one after another. So sleep tight. Goodbye, Yi."

Yi didn't move, didn't react to Singed's proclamation, but after a second, he continued walking. Yi gathered one thing from Singed's extended rambling tripe, and it boiled deep inside of him. The Chemist didn't know it yet, but he was already dead.


	10. Chapter 10

**Sorry about dragging it on, but there are some important details in this chapter. Plus, the story's not even close to done, so stay tuned!**

**Chapter 10**

Master Yi sat cross-legged in a dimly lit room. His eyes were closed peacefully in meditation; a feather duster lay harmlessly across his lap. A single candle burned slowly in a dish in front of him. He let the warmth sooth his aged body as he prayed to his ancestor ghosts, all of them masters of the Wuju style, for strength, and he prayed to the God of the Institute of War for victory. All this, he pleaded, as the candle slowly burned down to nothing. Darkness spread to every corner.

And then they struck.

Five, ten, fifteen figures, all dressed fully in black ninja gear, dropped down from the ceiling. They landed to the ground nearly silently. If the youngest of the clan had not made an almost inaudible-thump, for the junior had landed on two feet and a hand instead of all four limbs, Master Yi may not have detected them at all. But because of the young man's carelessness, Yi struck.

_Whack!_

"Yung!" Yi muttered, using the Ionian word for 'hit!', as a cloud of feathers blossomed from the hit.  
Even if the room had been lit, no one could ever claim to have seen Master Yi's feather duster whip out, and slay the junior ninja with a satisfying strike to the forehead. Nor could they have said to have seen Master Yi draw his two foot-swords, and fling them opposite side of the room; the blades carefully thrown as not to hit anyone. Master Yi ducked into Slipspace, and suddenly, the world burst into color. The ninjas all seemed to be wearing rainbows, and the walls melted and twisted with the bends and curves that the Slipspace created. The red tassels of his footswords seemed to burn black in the bright darkness that was the Slipspace. Yi dashed to one, dragging his feather duster in the real world, tripping a third of the ninjas with a strike to the calf. Yi grabbed his blade, and then dashed to the other, knocking down the other two-thirds with his extreme speed. The unfortunate junior ninja, the one struck first by Yi, was just getting back up, as he was run down again by the Slipspace-borne Master.

His **Blades Dash** slew all.

"Dai-Yung," Yi muttered. Big hit, he muttered.

As Yi picked up his second foot-sword, he stepped back into the real world, and back into darkness. One of the ninjas tossed a phosphorus bomb, causing the room to light up from a light-blue flame.

He could see all fifteen of them now, slowly getting back up from their attacks. The Eye of the Twilight, Shen, solemnly stood watch over his subordinates from behind his mask in the far corner of the room.

Immediately, Master Yi ignited his feather duster with the power of the** Wuju Prison**. Ionian hexes and runes spread across the wooden stick, making it look much more menacing than the cleaning tool it actually was. All of the ninjas, wary, took an involuntary step back.  
Smiling, Yi sat back down, laying his feather duster across his lap in the same position it was when he had started.  
The junior ninja, apparently looking for revenge for his twice-over humiliation, struck first with a wooden blade approximately the length of a ninja sword. The young man moved so slowly, with his short sword raised high above his head with both hands. Yi had time to stand up, and strike the boy across the chest with the duster, immediately trapping the poor boy in a dozen different branch-like hexes and runes, and then sit back down. Feathers floated down all around the boy and Yi.

"Si-Yung," Yi whispered. Kill.

The boy struggled helplessly against the slowing magic, off-balance, and then fell flat on his face; unable to throw his hands in front of his to catch himself. A champion may have the strength to break those bonds, but not ordinary people.  
Before seeing the first of them fell, the rest of the ninjas took the chance to attack. Yi moved like the wind, dodging many blows with such ease and grace it seemed he was dancing. And with each step he whacked yet another ninja upon the head, trapping them. Seven of them dashed at him at once. Yi hopped backwards from the advancing sticks, and then leaped as high into the air as the ceiling would let him.  
He flipped his duster downwards, and struck deep into the wooden floor as he fell. The duster cut through the bamboo floor, and all about it, branches of runes and hexes shot up to trap the surrounding ninjas.

As they struggled, Master Yi held his sword downwards, clenched both hands in a single fist, and pushed it forwards.  
"Qin." Thank you for the match.

The runes and hexes lifted, and many of the ninjas rose and graciously bowed to the Master, or imitated his move, if they were a ninja elder. The junior rose angrily, and stormed off.

Shen strode forwards, the first move he had made, since he stepped forwards to light the candle in the center of the room, four hours ago. Yi caught the ninja as he went to retrieve his Dragon Rising Blade.

"That was a good fight," Yi graciously offered to Shen. The fifteen were all students or mentors of Shen's at the Kinkou Order. "Some of them have good spirit, like that young man over there." Yi gestured to the junior who he had killed three times. The young man seemed to hear this, Yi always forgot how sensitive the hearing of a ninja's was, and the junior stripped off his mask to reveal a long, flowing black hair, and a woman's face. The junior glared insolently at Master Yi before striding off angrily. Oops.

"You gold-plated fart of an old man," Shen ribbed, "I've never beat fifteen without getting hit at least once." The two of them smiled at this. They both knew that Shen, as one of the most durable champions in the League, couldn't care less how many hits he took. The tank of a ninja probably welcomed it. The two of them walked back into the main body of the Institute of War.

"At least you can take a hit. I don't know how many more these old bones can take."  
"As if anyone can even hit you. You stay in another dimension so long, that Blades Dash is almost cheating. The other half of the time you're flying through the air like a monkey."  
They rounded a corner, down a side passage, and past two palace guards who uncrossed halberds to let them pass.  
"Good teachers learn from their students."

The two reached their destination. An iron door, two stories tall, sealed the Fields of Justice from the rest of the world. The gatekeeper, sitting at the door's foot, was absolutely enormous; twice as large as a grown man, and fully imprisoned in crude iron plate. One could not see an inch of the Gatekeeper's body; there was only cold, black, iron. There were rumors that the Gatekeeper was actually a former champion; deemed too powerful for the League to ever hope to control, and locked away in the vaults for the integrity of the League.

At the sight of Shen and Yi, the Gatekeeper rose, and strode up to the iron door behind him. With each of his seven fingers, the Gatekeeper broke the locks of the door. Immediately, the locks started to rapidly regenerate, but the iron fingers of the Gatekeeper obstructed the reconstruction of the metal of the door. Curling his fingers, the Gatekeeper found purchase in the door, and pulled. With a great rumbling, the door slid outwards, revealing an opening behind it that let Yi and Shen slip through. As they passed, the gatekeeper bowed, and then pushed the door closed again.

Yi and Shen made their way through the dark, winding corridor, until they happened upon an antechamber. They paused at the door. Shen glanced at Yi.  
"You're ready?"  
"Yes. Shen, we have to win. Defeat will mean suffering for more than myself."  
Shen shrugged.  
"No big deal. Once, all of Runeterra would have exploded in fire and brimstone if I hadn't managed to recite the alphabet backwards to an ancient and long-dead god of the Old World."  
Yi paused. High Ionianese had over 400,000 characters.  
"You're joking, right?"  
"...would it make you feel better if I was?  
"No."  
"Then whatever. The point is, we've all been through things before. As champions of the League, our actions will always hold some immensely important issue in the world, at one point or another. This is just one more problem we'll all conquer. How do miners cut through rock and stone? They have to use diamond to scratch the harder rock, but just a bit of diamond won't work. Because a speck of a diamond is brittle alone, but held together, there is nothing in that will break it."  
The two stood in silence for a bit.  
"Spent a while rehearsing that, did you Shen?"  
"A little bit. I felt like I was too slow. Was I not natural enough?  
"No, it was good. Diamond bit was nice."  
"Yi?"  
"Let's go."

Ahri looked up from her summoner, who was devotedly fawning over her. The charm spell she cast on him still hadn't totally worn off yet. Ahri, Jax, and Ashe, were conversing with the five Summoners who would be assisting them. Today was a special day; the champions would have the majority of the control over their own bodies, only the shared vision, and the summoner spells would be the form of summoner intervention in the fight.  
A young girl, hooded and cloaked in purple robes, bowed to Yi.  
"Greetings, master. I am Aki, your summoner for today's match. I hope to achieve victory together today."  
"Aki…. You're Ionian, aren't you?"  
"Yes." She beamed, and Yi could see her straight white teeth. "I'm a great admirer of your skill, master….I…I was very excited for today."  
"You'll do just fine." Yi bent over a small chart set in front of them, and started shifting colored pieces on the stone setting. "Now, these are the spells I would like you to equip and the empowering runes…"


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The five champions teleported into their fountain. Yi looked up, and saw the familiar sight, of a brilliant blue nexus, continually summoning blue minions to do autonomous battle all over the arena. Proud towers kept watch over their domain, just as the sun was rising over the battlefield. Yi stopped by the merchant, and picked up a lifestealing specter from the tiny man.

"Shen. Ahri. Come with me to the Ancient Golem. I need your help."  
The three strode off into the jungle, for a short while, until they reached an enclave. Within it, a great stone construct slumbered. It was the Ancient Golem. Powerful, durable, and based off of ancient guardians that were rumored to forever guard the gates to Icathia, it was one of two of its kind upon the Summoner's Rift. The powerful golem stood with blue runic stones of power circling about it, as it slumbered on in peace. Two lizards tended to the cracks in its stony flesh, every once in a while, munching upon the rock lice they found lodged in the folds of the Golem with delight.

"Ahri. Please bait it."  
"Oh, anything for you." She ribbed sarcastically. Ahri gathered magical energy in her orb, and then launched the spirit ball at the golem, cracking its stomach, and causing it to rise in anger. The stone beast lumbered after Ahri, roaring all the way, while the lizards attacked shooting fireballs, employing their weak grasp of magic.

"Shen! Let's go!"  
Yi ran behind the Golem, and cut deeply into its leg, causing the rocky beast to stumble, and miss a crushing blow aimed at Ahri. The Golem's punch instead crushed a boulder off to the left. Dodging a vicious backhand by the Golem, Shen tossed a vorpal blade into its other leg, causing the giant to trip.

"Yi! Ahri and I are going! Good luck!"  
Yi nodded, and then resumed hacking at the fallen golem. The beast rose to a knee, and slammed a fist right where Ahri stood a moment a second prior, before rounding on Yi with silent rage. Although beast it was, it was still powerful. Yi time and time again, barely managed to dodge its crushing blows. After a swing of the golem's fists that grazed Yi's shoulder, the giant reared up, and kicked Yi hard, sending the Wuju master tumbling. Yi rolled and hit a tree; he slowly stood up, and mentally checked his injuries. His shoulder was bruised badly, and his hip might be broken. He needed to heal.

He flipped his sword to the side, and killed one of the lizards that were attacking him. As blood spurted from the lizard, the specter hungrily drank up the liquid, and it immediately healed Yi's wounds with magic waves. Yi breathed deeply, and smiled.

The golem punched the ground hard, but Yi stepped to a side, and then rolled underneath it. He stabbed the golem once more in the leg, causing the giant to fall to a knee. Yi leaped high into the air, and flipped his sword downwards, igniting his Wuju style. With his Braveheart, Yi sank his Dragon Rising sword deep into right where a human's nerve cluster would be, at the base of the neck. The lizards to the sides were killed instantly by the shooting runic branches, and the from the golem shot many spikes and hexes from Braveheart, yet although the golem sank to the ground, it still moved.

Tough b*stard, Yi cursed. He would have to use his summoner's spell. Yi titled his head to the sky, and spoke to the heavens:  
"Aki! Now!"

A disembodied voice rung through his head, as Aki responded: "Yes, Master Yi!" A golden, ethereal beam dropped from the sky, and formed itself into a clawed hand. The hand reached into the golem's heart, and with a sickening crunch, it caved in that section of the golem's chest.

The golem, with a fresh hole in its chest, fell slowly to the ground, and when it did, the earth let loose a tremor like a small earthquake.  
And when Yi was done, the crests of the ancient golems floated about him in a ring. He felt the crest draw energy from the earth, improving the frequency at which he could launch his abilities, and Mana flooded his body with each breath he took. He enjoyed the temporary boost in power. And then he left.

He had not a second to lose. He had to move to the next monster's camp.

Yi crouched in the jungle, moving silently through the brush.

_Where were the b*stards? _Yi wondered,

The wolf pack he was hunting had disappeared into the brush. One leader, and two subordinates had escaped his initial Blades Dash into the heart of their pack. These wolves were dangerous in these close quarters, and very capable of finding the heart of his weakness, and exploiting it. Yi shouldered his Dragon Rising. They must be close.  
To the side of his head, a wolf leaped from the bush, teeth bared, and eyes wild. Yi tilted to his head to the side, barely avoiding the rabid beast's snapping jaws.

The wolf hit the ground on its haunches, snapping about frantically as it slid. Yi charged forwards with his sword raised, but he was forced back as a second wolf burst from the bushes to drive him back. Yi lowered his sword point, ready to run the two wolves through, when the leader burst from its hiding spot. The Giant Wolf was larger than Yi was; its eyes were frantic and red, its teeth were as long as daggers, just as sharp, and yellow, and it slobbered all over the ground as it snapped.

Yi waved his sword about, ready.

The Giant Wolf howled, before leaping forwards on all fours, apparently aiming to tackle Yi with its shoulders. Yi barely managed to blow the tackle with his blade; with dismay he noted that the legendary sword barely cut through the wolf's thick fur.  
Yi hacked at the enormous wolf's neck with a double strike, and then he flipped into the center of all three wolves, whilst drawing his foot-swords. With both hands, he flung his swords in opposite directions, catching both of the smaller wolves in the air as they leaped. Before the wolves could even whine in pain, Yi stepped into Slipspace, and saw once more, only the red tassels of his foot-swords. He dashed to one, and then the other, dragging his sword in the real world as he dashed. When Yi stepped back into the real world, only four halves of the smaller wolves were left, and the leader. The Giant Wolf took a step forwards—and then a blood-curdling howl stopped it in his tracks.

One dog after another, Yi thought, as he saw a pale gold hand reach down from the sky, not Aki's but an enemy summoner's, and crush the Giant Wolf's heart. The wolf leader slumped forwards, dead. Behind the wolf's corpse, was another, more dangerous wolf. Warwick, the Bloodhunter, stepped over his brethren's body, grinning as best he could behind his wolf's snout. The enemy champion wasted no time in attack. A single whirling strike with both claws from the werewolf left a deep gash in the Master's chest, and Yi could see that the disgusting monster lapped up the blood that spilled on him, stitching the Bloodhunter's wounds.

The monster looked up from his bloody meal, at Yi, and grinned.  
"More," Warwick said, "Spill more blood."  
Yi wiped the trickle of crimson from his lip.  
"Yours." Yi replied.

The werewolf howled, boosting his attack speed, and started tearing at Yi. He had to be impressed a bit by the Bloodhunter. The monster could fight; Yi could barely block the rapid attacks from the beast. Another Hungering Strike barely missed Yi, carving into an innocent tree behind them. The tree immediately shriveled as its' fluids wrapped about Warwick's arm, letting him lap them up from his forearms.

The werewolf growled in frustration, and circled about Yi. Yi simply kept the point of his sword aimed at his enemy.  
And then he ignited his blade with the Wuju Prison, wrapping his sword with green runes and hexes once more. With one strike, Yi snared Warwick into place, trapping the werewolf on the ground he stood. The werewolf struggled against his bindings, until Yi tossed a foot-sword past Warwick, cutting him across the face, and causing him to yelp, and then impaling the werewolf's foot, or paw, into the ground with the other foot-sword, which caused him to howl in pain.

With a single step, Yi stepped into Slipspace once more, rushing towards the footsword behind Warwick. Somewhere along the way, the Bloodhunter howled in pain from being cut across the chest. Yi dashed to the foot-sword lodged in Warwick's paw, and then ripped it out. The werewolf collapsed to the ground, gravelly wounded, but still extremely dangerous. It was going to be a close fight.

And then, Yi sensed a presence behind him. The Wuju master smiled, and then took a few steps back to the brush, lowering his sword. The Bloodhunter growled in anger.  
"Running?"  
Yi just smiled, and stepped into the brush, disappearing from sight.

The Bloodhunter howled in anger, and sniffed into the air. The beast could see just as well with his nose as with his eyes, and he saw Yi, bathed in fragrant blood, hiding in the brush.

With rage, the Bloodhunter launched his ultimate attack, leaping at Yi…

"Disgusting. Can't fight anyone if they aren't half-dead already, huh?" Ahri stepped out of the brush, with foxfires swirling about her.

The flames launched themselves at Warwick like heat-seeking missiles, catching Warwick first on the brow, then the back, and then the stomach, stumbling the beast with every strike along the way.

Yi stepped low, and then kicked upwards onto his sword, knocking Warwick into the air.  
As the werewolf reached his apex, a spirit orb shot forwards, and punched a hole in the Bloodhunter's chest. The werewolf then fell to the ground, dead. After a second, the champion burst apart in white flame and smoke.

"First blood has been spilled!" called out the magically empowered announcer, as the proclamation thundered through Summoner's Rift.  
"You owe me," called Ahri, and with that she disappeared back into her lane.  
Yi smiled, sighed, and then moved on to his next monster camp, despite his grievous wounds.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

_Raah!_

Green smoke swirled about Morgana's hands as she launched volley after volley of her basic attacks at Ahri, as the two battled for supremacy in the central lane. The fox could barely avoid the stinging blows; she was too slow to avoid the vast majority of them, and the balls of magic burst with acrid pain with each contact.

_I'll have to take up my diet again…_She mused, annoyed.

A particularly large smoke ball sped her way, so she grabbed an allied minion in hand's reach, and crouched behind the confused, flailing pawn, and shielded herself with the hapless construct.

The cretin screeched in surprise as the ball of smoke struck it full in the face. Smoking, Ahri dropped the poor minion, leaving it moaning in pain on the ground. Ahri winced a bit at the pitiful sight, and stuck her tongue out as she said,

"Sorry…"  
She didn't have the time to see the minion raise a hand to say,_It's OK_, because Morgana launched her binding spell at the fox. Ahri scooped the minion up once more with her foot, and tossed the minion in the path of the binding light. The minion was immediately forced to the ground by Morgana's Dark Binding.  
Ahri gave Morgana as sly smile as the fallen angel growled in frustration.

"Don't know how to aim, Morgy?" said Ahri in a taunting manner, "Too bad you don't have THIS!"

Ahri waved her hands to the side, and three fox fires burst from her body, and spun in a ring about her. She grinned, and ran straight at Morgana. Morgana desecrated the soil in front of Ahri, but the fox simply ran over it. Ahri's fires launched themselves at Morgana then, and the fallen angel was forced to shield herself with a black magical bubble, absorbing most of the damage, but as the smoke cleared, and Morgana looked up, Ahri was still there.

"I'll show you real skill!"  
The fallen angel started to run back towards her tower, but Ahri was too quick, and she hit the angel square in the chest with a charm spell. Morgana turned to face Ahri, and stumbled slowly towards the fox, love-struck.

"True love, hurts," Ahri said, as she gathered within her hands an orb of deception. "I've suffered broken bones and bruises and heartache for mine, but I grew stronger because of it." Ahri went on, pumping more power into the orb. "Let me give you a taste of my angst."  
She launched the orb out with all the force of a cannonball. The spell knocked Morgana ten feet backwards, and as it spun back, it burned a deep hole in the angel's withered wings. The angel stumbled back to the base of her tower, and laid there, wings drooping. With a start, the angel looked up, and growled.

"Ten thousand years I have warred with my sister!" Morgana spat, "The most high and mighty, the most merciless blood to ever share, my elder, Kayle the Perfect. You'd think she pissed wine and shat gold by the way she struts! You are arrogant to think you're the only one to ever suffer. You want to know true suffering?" Morgana's eyes narrowed, her mouth curled upwards in a grin, and she clenched her claws into fist. "Come closer. Let me show you the fruits of my suffering."

Ahri hesitated for a half heartbeat, then stepped forwards, drawing the fire of the enemy tower. The first strike splashed on Ahri's shoulder, burning at her neck. The fox winced at the blow.

"Ha! Die!" Morgana released snares all about her, trapping and slowing Ahri in its embrace. She had let loose her ultimate spell, Soul Shackles. The link grew stronger, and Morgana laughed, as she knew it would trap the fox under the murderous assault of her tower. She eagerly awaited the stun—  
And Ahri stepped right through her. The first dash mortally wounded Morgana. The next two dashes dodged the next strikes of the tower, each splashing harmlessly into the dirt of the Summoner's Rift. Ahri landed safely out of range of the tower, and turned around, not looking at Morgana once.

Morgana looked up, unbelieving, at Ahri; she had been expecting the fox to be stunned by her ultimate spell. But the wench fox… she…

Morgana slumped forwards, revealing a smoldering hole over where her heart was. White smoke and flame erupted from Morgana's body to signify her death.

Ahri gazed callously at her victim's lifeless body, and then returned to farming the center lane for more gold, and more power.

Ashe drew another arrow, and shot it spiraling towards her enemy. The arrow punched a half-foot into Cho' Gath's scaly flesh. The monster looked up at the new annoyance. Cho'Gath was only slightly larger than Ashe when the battle had started, but had grown to nearly three times that size over the fight. Cho'Gath was now the height of a three-story building, and nearly its width. The monster considered Ashe for a second, and then charged. Even slowed, the beast moved incredibly quickly! Ashe shot one, two more arrows into the monster before having to dodge to the side. Ashe rolled along the dirt for a second, before stopping near the brush. Strange… the terror of the Void seemed to stop there.

A rumbling sound came from beneath her, and before she could react, the tail of Cho'Gath erupted from underneath her, and pinned her to the wall. The disgusting appendage wrapped all about her body, and she could feel spikes entering in her as the tail compressed against the wall. She could see her bow, dropped on the ground, a foot out of reach. She desperately stretched her arm for it…

The monster lumbered forwards, savoring its next meal. With ravenous eyes, it opened its maw, and lunged forwards. Ashe closed her eyes—

"Hey big fella! Pick on someone your own size!"  
Jax dashed forwards, between Cho'Gath and Ashe. As the monster clamped down, it caught instead, Jax's outstretched arm. With a sickening crunch, the monster ripped the Grandmaster's left arm clean off. Jax yelled in pain, yet managed to get one blow in. The stunning blow. Cho'Gath fell backwards, arm dangling from his mouth, stunned. His tail released Ashe immediately.

Ashe lunged for her bow, and drew an Enchanted Crystal Arrow. She drew a bead, steady... and let the bow tilt a hair to the left, and hiked the arrow a sliver up like she always liked it... she breathed… and then let the arrow fly. The arrow erupted into an enormous ice bolt that would look more fitting shooting out of a ballista, and smashed into Cho'Gath, freezing him solid.

Even with only one arm, Jax managed to leap into the air, while pouring magical energy into his lamppost. The light fixture shone bright, and then dark as Jax plunged it's brass deep into Cho'Gath's skull. The monster moaned, and then collapsed to a side. White smoke and flame erupted from its body, signifying its death.

"Are you alright!" Ashe rushed forwards to look at Jax's wound. "Oh god, I'm so sorry-"  
"Forget it. I shouldn't have spent so much time shopping. Just good thing the other guy wasn't here-"

Jax then realized.  
Talon wasn't here.

The assassin was crouched in the rushes, near the center lane. Ahri was busy killing minions about the battleground as she took advantage of Morgana's absence. She was living in fantasyland. She was in for a rude awakening.

Talon leaped.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Ahri spun around at the unfamiliar noise.

"Huh?—Ah!"

The Blade's Shadow, Talon, leaped from the brush, and threw a storm of daggers at Ahri. She stumbled, and raised her arms to protect herself; unable to dodge, the daggers flew into her—and passed right through. Talon had just killed the after image of Ahri's ultimate. The assassin's eyes snapped to the real Ahri, who was crouched a stone's throw away to the left. She was still tired from her skirmish with Morgana. The fox got up, turned, and fled into the jungle.

Talon followed her, silently, into the bowels of vegetation.

Ahri crouched in a mass of brush, panting. She had picked a bad spot to run—this was the enemy's territory, which meant that Warwick, in addition to Talon, could be close by.  
"An enemy tower has been destroyed!" called the announcer. This gave Ahri a small reason to smile. If they were all hunting her, then that meant they weren't at their stations. Good. Even when hunted, she was still useful. Yet she frowned again as she considered. That also meant that they were not going to give up now. They were going to commit to killing her; to gain some small benefit. She froze as she saw Talon slouch into view. He passed by the brush she was hiding in, looking about.

"Here… foxy… foxy…" growled Talon. The assassin gave a low whistle, which annoyed her. She had a strong urge to try to kill him now. Did he think she was a dog or something?

The assassin gave an annoyed click, and waved to someone behind him.  
"Looks like she's not here… Spread out."

Warwick slouched in, and Ahri's heart jumped. The werewolf could smell the blood on her clothes. How injured was she? Was it enough to evade the bloodhunter?  
Warwick gave a couple of sniffs, before growling in frustration, and saying to Talon,  
"You useless wetboy. Couldn't you have injured her more? I can't smell her at all. Not even that stinking perfume of hers."

Talon gave no comment, and instead turned to his other side.  
"Did you find her?" he said, but Morgana, who floated in, green smoke already pouring out of her hands, snarled.  
"If I did… that wench would already be dead."

This was bad… the three had her completely surrounded. How long until she could Spirit dash once more? Not soon enough.

"Well… let's just give up. Bottom lane is getting trashed." Talon turned, and started walking away, and Warwick and Morgana started to follow… Ahri couldn't believe her luck.  
The assassin vanished, and before Ahri could even cry out in surprise, the Blade's shadow already had a hand over her mouth, and a knife at her throat.  
"Just kidding." Talon tilted his knife a bit, to let the sun shine off its edge. "Don't struggle and I'll make it quick."

But of course Ahri struggled, she kicked and bucked until her mouth wrenched free, and once she did, she birthed three more Foxfires. The flames curved, and blasted everyone in range. Ahri tried to use the distraction to run, but she didn't get more than ten feet before daggers thrown by Talon carved her legs, and she stumbled. As soon as she did, Morgana's Dark Binding forced her to the ground. The three surrounded her slowly.  
Talon advanced slowly, his face burned.

"You d*mn fox…"  
He raised his dagger, and thrust—  
And the edge stopped an inch from her throat. Confused, the assassin thrust again, but once more, his edge stopped short. That was the shield around Ahri started materializing more solidly, and it seemed like Ahri was enveloped in a bubble of purple-white light. The three realized who was coming, and they all started to back instinctively away. Shen was coming.

Talon was the first to recover his nerve.  
"Come on you cowards! It's still three on two!" Talon rushed forwards, and thrust once more—  
But his arm was caught in mid -air.

"Such an egregious imbalance in the world…" Shen forced Talon's hand down as he struggled with the ninja's insane strength. "…must be corrected. Three on one? I'm surprised at even you lot."

"Raaagh!" Talon yelled, as he flung his left arm out. A smaller dagger sprung from his left hand, and he thrust it at Shen's face, but the ninja caught that, too. Pulling forwards with both arms, Shen jerked Talon's entire body forwards, as he flung his mask into the assassin's face. The Blade's Shadow stumbled back, covering his nose, as it was bleeding and broken.

Warwick charged, claws flailing, but he was hit in mid-leap by Ahri's charm.  
"Ew!" Ahri said, as the werewolf stumbled towards her in a daze.  
"Focus, Ahri!" Shen slashed at Warwick's face with a Ki-infused blade, causing the werewolf to spin off, yipping in pain, but he was tackled by Talon when he tried to move in for the kill. Morgana took the chance to start magically dueling with Ahri, eager to snatch revenge for the angel's early death.

Warwick leapt onto Shen, slashing at him infinitely quickly, with his Infinite Duress. The ninja was trapped under the weight of the storm of attacks. Talon disappeared, while tossing out daggers all around him. He reappeared behind Shen as the storm of daggers followed him straight through the ninja. Shen pitched forwards, clutching his stomach.  
Talon spun a dagger in his hands, and stabbed at Shen. The cruel blade ate into Shen's shoulder, and the ninja stumbled forwards, breathing heavily. Talon readied another volley of daggers.

"Die already-"  
Two foot-swords spun from the brush, one of them cutting Talon across the face. The assassin yelled, clawing at the wound, as Warwick whined, for the other foot-sword had impaled the blood hunter's paw again. A golden blur shot from the brush, cutting through Talon, landing at the foot-sword behind the assassin, before speeding into Warwick, and knocking him back.

The blur stopped moving, and then got up. Master Yi turned to Talon, as Shen moved in on Warwick, and kept his Dragon Rising sword pointed over his heart.  
"Not… again" Talon muttered. And then he died.

Shen parried a blind claw swipe from Warwick, and then thrust his Vorpal Blade through Warwick's heart, killing the werewolf.

Morgana stumbled again as Ahri's Foxfires caused her to trip. Morgana looked up, and then screeched in anger and pain as Ahri's spirit orb punched through her. The angel pitched forwards, a hole in her stomach, and died. The fox smirked, and then walked over to her allies.

"Too easy," said Ahri, as she pat her hands. Shen wiped the wolf blood off his Vorpal Blade on Yi's shoulder.  
"Took you long enough," Shen said. "You got here with all the speed of a glacier." Shen thought for a second. "A glacier on crutches."  
"What, the _incredibly_ durable and tough Shen of the Kinkou can't handle a few scratches?"  
Shen shrugged.  
"Sorry we can't all be little backdooring b*tches."  
Yi smiled, and tapped the ninja on the head.  
"Thanks for the assist."

The three stood there, letting the warmth of friendship soak into the bones, and warm their hearts…

And then Singed erupted from the brush, grabbed Yi by the neck, flung the Wuju master over a ridge and then flashed after him.

High General Swain sat with his commanding officers and his allied Champions, sitting in an observing room, spectating the fight. With each Noxian death, his face grew harder and harder, his grip on his cane grew tighter and tighter, and his subordinates inched further and further away from the man.  
After the death of Morgana by Ahri, which was plastered in high-definition on a wall-sized screen, Swain abruptly stood up, causing many next to him to scatter, and left the room.

Behind him, followed Katarina, Darius, and Draven.

They left for the room where Blue Team's summoners were fighting then.

They left for the Anteroom.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Yi tumbled over the ridge, fell into a dark hole, and landed in a pitch-black cave. He sprung up, holding up his sword to the darkness. It was a dark and wet place he landed in, and noisy. A thousand drops of water fell to the ground with each passing second, raising up a symphony of clatters and plops that masked all other noise.

Almost all other noise.

The sound of deep, heavy breathing cut through the sound of water drops like a knife. A slow long, inhale…. And then a monstrous exhale… that lit up the cave. A gush of flame shot across the cave, and for a moment, the cave was lit up with the brightness of fire. Yi caught a glimpse of Singed, standing across from him… waiting. The flame flickered, and then extinguished, letting the darkness invade the cavern once more.

Yi circled the spot where Singed was… slowly… carefully.

Another flame shot across the room, bisecting the cave, and Yi could see the source now. The dragon of the Summoner's Rift slumbered in the center of its lair, letting loose a gush of flame with every breath. Singed stood across the other side of the flame… waiting. The two basked in the searing heat of the wall between them. Steam rose from vaporized water on the ground, birthing a haze to further separate the two. Singed looked as if he were made of melting wax, as he swayed and flowed through the film of steam between them.

"What's wrong, Singed of Zaun?" Yi called out, "Let loose your poison gas already! You'd kill me in seconds, right?"  
The chemist said nothing. He knew if he let loose the poison gas now, he would earn the dragon's wrath, and his own death.

"Why don't you do that ridiculous jump attack of yours, Yi?" Singed muttered lowly. "I mean that attack that sprouts green daises all about it? I'm sure the dragon shall love it."

"Won't have to. Shen and Ahri will be coming for the two of us, and I'm sure they'll give you a warm welcome."  
"It doesn't matter how many weaklings you send after us, Yi." Singed hissed as he slipped into the shadow, leaving a last parting jab, "You won't win this fight." Yi could hear Singed leave the cavern, and melt into the night.

Yi thought at first that Singed was just being cocky. But then he heard the first scream.

Katarina strutted down the hallway to the anteroom, where the Gatekeeper stood guard. The huge metal man took no notice of the assassin as she strode up to him.  
"Oh Gatekeeper, strong Gatekeeper…" She batted her eyelashes at the implacable guardsman. "let me and my friends through, pretty please?"

The Gatekeeper made no response, but to continue staring off into the distance. Katarina made an exaggerated slump, and buried her face in her hands, as she turned away from the Gatekeeper, weeping. "Oh, Mr. Gatekeeper…" She flipped out her daggers, and a voracious smile spread across her face. "You just made my day."  
As she drew her weapons, Darius fell from the ceiling, his axe high above his head, and brought it down on the Gatekeeper's helm.

"RAAGH!" Darius dealt a monstrous blow, causing the room to erupt in smoke and dust. The Hand of Noxus gave a small grin.

A metal arm, with Darius's Axe lodged in only a few inches in it, burst from the smoke, and grabbed Darius. The man screamed, as he was smashed against the stone wall of the Anteroom. Darius was smashed into the wall, making a hole roughly his in shape. The Gatekeeper brought his other arm back, and swung hard at the Hand. Darius managed one strangled scream before he was squashed into the architecture.

Katarina yelled, and threw her blade, bouncing it over and over against the wall and the Gatekeeper, wrecking dents wherever the blade ricocheted. The Gatekeeper tried a punch at the assassin, and would have killed her, if she didn't Shunpo behind the huge man. The Gatekeeper instead killed a puff of purple smoke, and patch of rock floor ten feet in diameter.

Katarina spun in a whirlwind of knives, flinging dozen of daggers at her foe, and managed to get many stuck in the Gatekkeper's armor before he just kicked her, and sent her flying across the room. An enormous axe flew across the room, and lodged itself in the Gatekeeper's helm, tilting the huge man's head a bit to the side.

"What a throw, huh?" Draven spun another axe in his hands, and threw them at the Gatekeeper, forcing the metal man back a bit.  
"Hey!" Draven called, spreading his arms wide, and posing "Fatso! Don't die too quickly, 'cuz we gotta a show to put on-!"

The Gatekeeper reached onto his own arm, and wrenched out Darius' axe from his forearm guard, and threw it at Draven. The executioner gulped, then ducked, narrowly avoiding the headless fate that Darius' axe had dealt to countless other victims. The Glorious Executioner scampered away, trying to flee the huge man that had suddenly charged him.  
Draven tripped, which let the Gatekeeper catch up to him, and then swat the man away like a fly.

The Gatekeeper then turned to Katarina, who was still recovering from her first blow. She feebly raised a hand, as the man raised a metal palm to deal the finishing blow.

CAW!  
A crow pierced the man's helm, and the Gatekeeper fell to a knee. Another raked his back, and the Gatekeeper wordlessly fell to all fours. Without warning, a flock of ravens overtook the Gatekeeper, slowly eating him alive. A final crow pierced the man's heart from behind, and the man hit the floor, causing tremors along the surface. He was dead.

"You idiots." Swain muttered, as he morphed into his human form. His crow, Beatrice, flapped back onto her master's shoulder. "Do I have to do everything by myself?"  
"Idiots. Caw." Beatrice parroted. Swain's cane and his peg leg clattered along the stone surface of the room, which was slick with blood. The Master Tactician stopped at the wall, and then looked up. He gazed upon his late loyal servant, Darius, who now bore more of a resemblance to a hamburger than anything else. "Well… at least no one will be able to identify the body."

Swain turned and tapped his cane on the Gatekeeper's lifeless hand.  
"Miss Katarina." Katarina slowly got up, nodded, limped over to Swain, and then drew her swords. With several hacks she managed cut off the Gatekeeper's fingers.

"Sir… why is Singed so important?" Katarina gave a glance up at what was left of Darius' body. "Is he really more important to Noxus... than us?"

Swain chuckled, as he picked up one of the Gatekeeper's fingers, examining it. Draven was wrestling with fitting a thumb into the lock. The single digit was thicker than Swain's waist.

"Well, Singed is developing a new weapon for us… an extremely powerful one."  
"What's the use of a weapon," spat Katarina, as she clutched her side "If we can't even use it. The League would sanction us relentlessly. Hell, even this is risking the Noxus to the wrath of the League."

"Put it this way," Swain mentioned offhand, as he fitted the Gatekeeper's fingers into the lock in the iron door, "If we have this weapon…then we don't even need the League, or anyone else."

Swain gently pushed open the door, and it swung open silently.  
"So let's go make sure Singed wins this one."  
The Master Tactician walked silently into the Anteroom. It was deserted, of course. There were no champion to prepare themselves, and all of the Summoners were in the Summoner's Platform in the room beyond.

Swain stepped into the Summoner's Platform. On it, five Summoners stood in a circle, manipulating glass orbs between both hands, casting summoner spells, and informing their champions of the map, and the combined vision of all towers, champions, and minions. Summoners were essential to the victory of any team in the League.

_Too bad,_ Swain thought, as he raised a hand. His signal. Katarina flung a dagger across the room, and spun once, before it impacted with a sickening thud between the eyes of a stocky summoner that was supporting Ashe. The man never knew what hit him. The summoner dropped to his knees, and then fell over, dead.  
Aki, who was across the slain man, saw it first, and screamed.

"Aki?" Yi called, "What's going on?" Suddenly, the natural vision of the entire map and his allies faded from his mind. Did the girl drop her orb? Or something worse? Yi turned, and raced to find his allies. They had to stick together.

"Raah!"

Aki Ignited Katarina, bathing the Sinister Blade in sparks and puffs of flame. Katarina cursed, and turned away, trying to pat away the flames that licked at her body. A thin summoner wrapped Draven in restricting light, Exhuasting the executioner. Draven made a show of being extremely tired.

"Oh GOD you exhausted me! Whatever shall I do?" Draven spun in a circle, holding the back of his hand against his head, as if he were going to faint. An arm flung out, and the Summoner twitched as he was impaled on Draven's axe.  
"Oh… that."

One summoner made a run for the door, but Katarina caught the girl in the calf with a dagger. The girl fell flat of her face, and tried to scamper away, whimpering from pain and fear. The girl reached out to the door, as if she could touch it, everything would be alright. Katarina took a single step, and stepped on the girl's fingers.

The summoner wept in despair. Katarina put her out of her misery.  
She looked up from her kill. It looked like almost all the targets were dead. Only Aki was still alive, slumped against a wall, cradling a wound she sustained from being caught by one of Draven's axes. The girl looked downwards, not facing her soon to be killers.

Swain loomed over the doomed girl, and pointed his cane at her neck.  
"You have any brave last words, sweetheart?"  
"Words! Words!" Beatrice cawed, flapping her wings.  
Aki looked up at the man, and raised her hand, dripping with blood from her wounds. She clenched it into a fist.

A golden hand spilled from her hand, and it reached out to Swain. The Master Tactician smiled at the fruitless effort; Smite could not harm Champions. It drifted over his heart for a second… before Aki smirked in return, and then lifted her hand. In a last act of defiance… she Smited Swain's crow. The golden hand wrapped itself around Beatrice, and crushed her. The crow gave a half-CAW before exploding in a mess of blood and feathers.

Swain gazed in disbelief at the action, as remains of his most beloved pet soaked into his shoulder. Katarina let out a loud, clear laugh at the insolence. Aki laughed silently, painfully, below them. Even Draven nervously chuckled.

Swain turned sharply, and killed Aki.  
The laughter died out.

The Tactician left the bloody scene, leaving Katarina and Draven to look at each other once, and shrug, before following their leader back into the Institute of War. While inside, Aki lay dead, eyes closed, with the ghosts of a smile still on her face.

**So you guys may be asking why would the Noxians so obviously interfere with the judgment, and why in the world would the League accept this? Well, here's my take:**

**Note that however obvious there was foul play, there is no real direct proof of who it was, therefore, the Noxians have plausible deniability. Draven's body was mushed, and you can assume that the Katarina and Draven would clean up after Swain as he stormed out. It's a matter of retrieving the daggers, taking Draven's axe, and denying everything when questioned.****You guys might question why the League has such hidebound rules, and the reason is, is to discourage screwing around on the part of your own ruling. If every bit of foul play reversed a Ruling, then half the Noxian v Anyone rulings that ended up with a Noxian loss would have their hapless summoners, or anyone related, disappear, or end up in pieces in a body bag in another country or something.****Thus one could simply deny any ruling that didn't run in their favor. Therefore the League has an unspoken rule that no matter what happens out there, what happens in the Fields is divine law.****The result is, instead of the Noxians messing around with dozens of rulings by treachery, they could only mess around with one, crucial ruling. Because once the bodies were discovered, no doubt the League would immediately rectify any holes in their defense, add more guards, etc. Instead of dozens of silver bullets by the Noxians, they get only one.****it's not perfect, but few systems are.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Yi crouched with his allies behind the second line tower in their center lane. Jax, Ahri, Ashe, and Shen, conversed with him grimly over what they should do next.  
"Our vision is shot to hell," Jax muttered, "We don't know what's going on, and where. If we split up, they'll ambush us one by one, and we're dead. Pushing is a huge risk too, because we can't tell if they're flanking us or not."  
Shen tapped Ashe on the shoulder, who was standing to the side, keeping watch. "Is your Hawkshot still working?" She reached into her quiver, pulled out an arrow with a hawkface head, and launched it off into the distance.  
"Yeah. It looks like it we're just cut off from our Summoners."

"The enemy has destroyed a turret!" called the announcer. Ashe started to run, but Shen stopped her.  
"If we keep by our towers," Shen started, "Then we should be able to hold them off for now. We can't hold onto our outer ring, so we have to fall back to our inner circle. Just by shouting, we can call out where they are from there."  
Ahri growled.

"But we can't stay holed up forever." Ahri said, "They'll push through eventually, unless we attack."  
"But if we attack—they'll kill us"  
"Either way, we lose, just one way, slower!"  
The champions started arguing over the different strategies, while Yi sat at his station, looking thoughtful.

Yi suddenly got up, and started walking away.  
"Yi?" Jax called, "Where're you going?"

Yi turned, and smiled from underneath his helmet.  
"Who said that ALL of us has to defend?"

Singed hid in the brush with his allies. They were near the bottom lane, second tower, and there was only Jax, boredly spinning his lamp, in sight.  
Singed motioned forwards, and his allies rushed.

Cho'Gath charged forwards, drawing the fire of the turret, but the turret splashes barely dented the void monster's health. The monster shot his tail underground, intending to knock Jax upwards from underneath the ground, but he barely missed as Jax dived out of the way. Cho'Gath let loose a feral scream, taking the Grandmaster's voice away.  
Jax beat a hasty retreat, drawing Cho'Gath further and further away from the fire of the turret. His withdrawal drew the charge of Morgana, Warwick, and Talon, who moved in under the cover of Cho'Gath.

Jax weaved and ducked, dodging Morgana's Dark Binding with a nimble sidestep, and sliding under a Rake of Daggers thrown by Talon. Morgana desecrated the ground underneath him, burning the dirt into boiling black tar, but Jax skipped over that to run back to his third turret line. Jax made it to fifeteen feet away from his turret, before Singed burst from a side lane, grabbed Jax, and flung him in the middle of his allies.

Morgana caught Jax in her binding light this time, forcing Jax to a knee. The entire Purple Team closed in on him.  
Jax looked up at the advancing enemies… and whistled.

Ahri spun from behind the third turret, and launched a maximum range charm spell. The pink heart soared through the air, before catching Talon in the back. The assassin stumbled towards the turret, drunken. The five turned to attack Ahri, but not before Jax was freed. Still on one knee, he grabbed his lamppost, Empowered it with magic, and rammed it into Cho'Gath's leg. The monster moaned, and stumbled, falling onto Warwick. The werewolf snarled in frustration as he tried to claw Cho'Gath off of him.

Signed ran after the Fox, tanking the turret's fire all the while, until Ashe stepped from behind the a Nexus turret, and shot at Singed with a massive bolt of Ice. The chemist cursed, and crouched low, just barely avoiding the Enchanted Crystal Arrow. The arrow passed him, and slammed into Warwick just as he wrenched free from under Cho'Gath's struggling body. The arrow caught Warwick between the eyes, spreading ice from the impact like a virulent disease. Frost, sleet, and crystal covered Warwick's entire body, freezing him in place, and letting Jax step forwards, and smash at his forehead. Ice, fur, and skull, all yielded to Jax's brass. His skull crushed, the werewolf fell back, dead.

Singed cursed at his luck, and grabbed Ashe from the turret, ignoring its withering fire, and flung her away from it. He then charged Jax, pushing him from behind, and knocking him to the ground. Poison gas filled the area, catching Ahri and Jax in its toxic embrace. Jax fell to the ground, wheezing. Ashe clutched at her throat, choking. With rage, Singed brought both hands down, killing the Grandmaster. He turned then to Ashe, but suddenly, Shen was there too, dashing past him, and forcing him to strike clumsily at the ninja.  
The ninja raised his sword again, but he was caught from behind by an Exhaust spell from Morgana. Shen's strike lightly cut into Singed, as his strength was sapped. Singed took the chance to kick at Shen's legs, forcing him to the ground, and slamming him across the skull. Shen tumbled to the side, and lay still. White smoke burst from his body his spirit returned to the summoning platform. Singed looked triumphantly about at the scene. Ashe lay dead, from a vicious bite across her chest by Cho'gath maw. Jax lay still, poisoned by the smoke billowing from his pack. And Shen was slain at his feet. The cost of having no summoner spells to support.

Ahri stood alone, by her Nexus turret, hands at her side, but smiling. Singed hesitated at Ahri's grin for only a moment, before advancing triumphantly.  
"So, little fox… your friends lie dead. What's so funny?"

Ahri grin's grew wider.  
Singed gave a sickening smirk in return.  
She smiled even wider.  
Singed returned the favor.  
She opened her mouth, showing perfect white teeth.  
Singed walked forwards, slowly, with his three allies.  
She started laughing- but Singed snapped.  
"ENOOOOUGH!" Singed roared, "WHAT'S SO,"  
He slammed the space of tower next to Ahri's head, causing her to flinch. His chemically enhanced muscles cracked the stone, but still her smile did not fade.  
"GODD*MNED! FUNNY?"  
With a vicious backhand, he slammed Ahri across the face, and she went flying. She tumbled, as the four other champions advanced. Ahri rolled, bounced back up, and crouched. She raised a hand to gingerly brush the cracked cheekbone, before putting it back down. When Singed's voice came back it was a harsh whisper.

"I asked you what the hell was so funny, fox."  
Ahri squatted, and put her hand above her eyes, scanning the distance. She smiled.  
"I wonder…where all of your turrets went?"

"PURPLE TEAM'S TURRET HAS BEEN DESTROYED!" the announcer shouted. Singed's eyes widened, and he whirled around, using his Summoner's sight to track his base. Down the entire center lane, one after the other, purple team's turrets were left a smoking ruin. And assaulting their inhibitor crystal was Yi. The master hacked relentlessly at the glowing crystal; leaving a fresh crack with every strike.

He flipped his sword downwards, and gazed up into the sky, knowing that Singed, and the entire rest of Purple Team could see him with the Summoner advantage they bought with treachery. He smiled, and thrust the sword downwards. The Dragon Rising smashed the crystal apart like a fruit, leaving only shards and dust where once the proud structure once stood. Immediately, huge minions riding machines of war birthed from the Nexus. They leaped towards Singed and the rest of Purple Team, pushing him back with their enhanced strength. One leaped forwards, and smashed Singed's foot with an enormous spiked ball attached to a mechanical limb. The Chemist roared in pain, and crushed the minion in return, but still more came.

Singed turned to his allies, cursing.  
"Fall back to the turrets," he swatted away a warrior minion like it was no more than a fly. "And kill that d*mn Ionian when we do!"

Ahri chuckled, sitting at the base of her turret. Singed rounded on her, cursing.  
"Just you wait, my little fox. I'll cut off his head, flay all the skin and meat from his flesh and take the largest, ugliest bone from the bloody remains that I find and violate you with it!"  
Ahri gave an amused sigh, and shrugged.  
"You won't catch him."  
"And how do you know that?"  
Ahri gave her largest smile yet.  
"You never can."

_Haooo!_

Vicious, yellowed fangs erupted from a bush behind Yi, and he had to sink low to avoid their deadly embrace. Warwick burst from the brush behind him, but Yi was already on top of that. He nimbly hopped back, avoiding yet another deadly strike from the werewolf. The Bloodhunter swiped only open air as Yi dodged each of his strikes with ease and grace. He could have stayed longer, but Talon flanked him, and launched a volley of daggers at his back.

He crouched, and drew a single foot-sword, and flung it spinning at the werewolf. The Bloodhunter dodged, but Yi still did not miss, as his blade sailed past Warwick up and over a jungle ridge.

Yi slipped into the fifth dimension once more, avoiding Talon's deadly Rake, and avoiding the Hungering Strike that Warwick launched at the same instant. He was pleased to see from the other world, that it looked as if Warwick had been hit in the eyes by Talon's daggers, and in his clumsy blindness, struck Talon across the face. Cho'Gath just made it in time to accidently start a Rupture directly under the two struggling champions. Chuckling, Yi dashed to his foot-sword, and gripping it, he re-entered the world.

_Raggh!_

It looked like someone anticipated his move. Yi looked to his left, and saw Singed charging him, with Morgana's Dark Binding spell following fast on his heels. Yi sidestepped to dodge the Dark Binding, letting the dark light harmlessly pass by, but Singed took no chances, and was already launching a spray of his super-adhesive glue at the Master.

The ground all around him was now marked, thought Yi, so why not fly into the air?  
Yi leaped into the sky, and brought his sword back down in the brush behind Singed. His blindly aimed Braveheart wrapped Morgana, who had been hiding in the rushes, in a thousand snaring runes, slowing her down, while speeding him up. Yi gave a mocking smile, before dashing off into the jungle, with the entire enemy team hurling curses at his back.

From far away, Ahri leisurely sat at her turret, waiting for her allies to respawn. From the distant shouts of anger, she gathered that Yi did make it away.  
"I told you. You won't catch him."


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

"Yi! Look out!"

Yi spun just in time to catch Talon's massive arm-mounted blade in his shoulder. Yi grunted; his blood splashed over his goggles, blinding him. The Wuju Bladesman lashed out blindly with his sword until he felt the Dragon Rising's edge bite into something, before he reached up with his uninjured arm to wipe the blood off his lenses. It was a gruesome sight. Talon's blade had lodged itself deep into his shoulder, and poked out of his arm on the other side.

With painful effort, Yi ripped out the jagged blade from his body… and pushed away the dead body attached to it.

"Yi!" Shen called, "Jax and Ashe are down! Let's fall back!"  
Yi nodded, and ran back across the river with Shen and Ahri to their territory, dodging monstrous appendages, super adhesive glue, and dark binding light all along the way. The three took cover behind an enormous oak overlooking the river.  
"Yi…" Ahri put a hand on his shoulder. "This can't go on. We're still losing two for every one we kill; it's impossible without vision or summoner spells. We have to do something different."  
Yi peeked out from the tree's side… and gazed down the river's length. Something writhed in the distance. He closed his eyes in contemplation. He knew what they had to do.

Upstream the river that divided the Summoner's Rift… down the western end, tucked in a hidden bay of jagged rock hardened and tempered by acid… lived the Baron Nashor. The real Baron Nashor once ruled the river upon which the Summoner's Rift was built, terrorizing both the Noxian and Demacian forces that warred over it; the worm would sliver along the depths unseen, and lay in the mud, waiting. Entire platoons went missing whenever Baron Nashor was suspected to be hungry; eventually both armies, despite their considerable firepower, avoided the area altogether, completely abandoning any hope of controlling the river. The construct that lived in the Summoner's Rift was created from eyewitness accounts of the worm, and a single, rotted scale from the beast. His lair is home to the graves of more champions than the entire rest of the Summoner's Rift combined.

Hundreds of teams have clashed in its dark and damp lair, spilling blood, clashing steel and loosing fire for the right to defeat the worm. Battles were won and lost depending on who controlled the empowerment that Baron bestowed on his conquerors… champions died largely from other champions, but it wasn't unheard of for entire teams to disappear down the Baron's gullet, to their inevitable loss.  
It was here that Yi and his allies decided to make their stand.  
They were advancing before, only to slowly lose the war. Yi's backdoor tactics kept the Purple Team on the back foot, but every time Yi destroyed a structure, the next would be deeper, and farther into enemy territory, and every time Yi was not present, his allies would lose their fights and lose their lives.

So when their full strength returned, Master Yi and his allies made their way to Baron. The five tucked themselves away in strategic areas created by the rushes about the river that hid movement. Eventually, Singed and his cronies would be forced to check it. It is where they would ambush them. And so they waited.

_They were coming. Yi crouched low in the rushes by the riverbank. His allies waited alongside him._

_Master Yi leveled his Dragon Rising Blade at his final enemy; angling the tip at his heart. The disgusting monster was even more revolting in battle, with his thin, rotted limbs that moved awkwardly in battle, or his shrouded face that concealed horrific chemical burns. Singed. The Human-Chemical weapon walked slowly towards Yi with his allies, each more sinister than the last. The chemist did not know they were there yet._

_This was it. Whoever claimed victory at this juncture would have a clear shot at their opponent's nexus. The duration of a respawn had been drawn out to an eternity. Every move was crucial._

_Yi let his sword drop; the razor sharp edge cut rivets in the muddy river water that they stood over. In the background, he could see the Baron Nashor, a monstrous purple serpent with a mouth as wide and dark as hell, writhe in his personal pool of muck and acid, ready to devour any champion foolish enough to fall in reach of his maw. To his back, he could sense his allies, tensing for the upcoming fight…_

_Unlike most other battles in the Fields of Justice, Yi was fighting alongside close friends this time. Like comrades, they were siblings of war._

_Singed and his party were coming. But Yi needed a little bit more. His friends were all injured, and their abilities had been largely spent._

_He had come this far… Yi had evolved more in this past half-year than he had in any thousand. But an ultimate ability was still out of his grasp. After the Dragon Rising Blade had robbed him of all of his power, Yi had to learn new ones. But a truly devastating move eluded him._

_Please, Dragon Rising… Yi pleaded in his mind… Grant me the power to defeat my enemies. Give me the strength... to bring justice to Singed, and peace to my wife and village_

_He closed his eyes._

Nothing.

He still felt only emptiness. But there was nothing that could be done now. And then, without warning, a pillar of light, with an ethereal eye at its peak, erupted from their brush, illuminating all of them. It was the summoner spell Clairvoyance.

It was a counter-ambush.

Grinning cruelly, Morgana fired a Binding Light into the mess of them; the party scattered as best they could, but Yi was struck by the light, and forced to the ground. With one stroke, Singed's team had established their advantage.

It was Jax who struck first. He leapt from the brush, spinning his lamp over his head, deflecting all attacks through his stance; when he fell, tremors shot through the river as he struck over half the enemy team with his stunning blow. Immediately, those unaffected struck back. Jax could barely keep up with the flurry of attacks from both Warwick and Singed; brass kissed claw and wood clashed with flesh as Jax was slowly and surely pushed back.

Shen was immediately after him. The ninja swept past Singed and Warwick, yelling empowered shouts that magically forced the two to spin around clumsily and attack him, buying Jax some ground to fight back. It looked almost even for an instant.  
But by then the other three of the team had recovered. Morgana locked Shen down with her binding light, and then desecrated the ground beneath him. The ninja was being eaten alive by mud and water turned into brimstone and acid. Morgana immediately summoned a black shield shaped like a hexagonal bubble about her, and summoned Fell links between her and the entire Blue Team, links that would burn and slow at their victims, until they stunned. The fallen angel had little time to celebrate her skill, however, as Ashe was the third to plunge from the brush.

The archer fitted five arrows on her bow of frost, and leapt into the air. She fired all five arrows point-blank onto the fallen angel, cracking the black shield. Ashe spun low, and then swept upwards with her bow, driving the sharpened edges of the icy bow into Morgana's shield. The bow connected for a second—before the shield shattered, and Morgana was left vulnerable. The link of Morgana's ultimate Soul Shackles was quickening, but Ashe was quicker. With a single fluid motion Ashe drew an enchanted crystal arrow and shot it into Morgana's face. The bolt of ice froze the angel solid, preventing her devastating mass-stun.

Cho'Gath jumped on Ashe in that instant she let loose her crystal arrow, flinging his claws, and letting loose dozens of spikes from his strikes. His talons carved deep into Ashe's collar; blood spurted from her cloth as she stepped back, choking. The ice shattered from Morgana, and a cleansing glow surrounded the angel; benefits of the summoner spell Cleanse. The angel began assaulting her with blow after blow of green smoke issued from the angel's hands, as Ashe barely managed to avoid Cho'Gath's feral scream.  
It looked to be hopeless, as Warwick freed himself from his battle with Shen to attack Ashe then, turning the fight into a three on one.

But there was still Ahri.

The fox first disabled Cho'Gath with a charm spell, then birthed fox fires that shot in every direction, burning their targets. Without pause, she fired a spirit orb through Morgana, causing the angel to stumble backward… towards Baron. The orb continued forwards, and struck the giant worm, driving it to rage. The Baron Nashor growled, turned in the direction of the fight, and lashed, but no one was within range to taste the monster's wroth.

Screaming with wordless fury, Ahri tackled Morgana as hard as she could, while boosting her speed to its maximum with her Spirit Dash. The fox rammed with the force of charging bull into Morgana, and the angel flew… straight into Baron Nashor's maw. The angel had not time to scream before the beast clamped down hard over her upper half. With a flick of its enormous skull, Baron flipped the angel into his mouth, chomped down, and the champion was no more. Growling with satisfaction, the Baron Nashor swam as far as it could to the lip of its lair. It eyed the warring champions hungrily.

Jax spun his lamp, ready to smash Warwick's skull in, but before he could deliver the finishing blow; he was struck from behind with an Exhaust spell. Flames erupted all about Jax as he was set ablaze from an Ignite, but still the Grandmaster did not fall. Jax charged at Singed; all the while slowed, burned, and injured. With a powerful leap, Jax swung the lamp across Singed's face. It was a sickening blow; the lamp smashed through Singed's chemically altered face with unnatural ease. The cracking of bones and tendons could be heard even above the cacophony of battle.

Singed looked up at Jax from his destroyed face. With a single bandaged hand, he grasped the lamp in his face and after effort, crushed the wood shaft into dust. Green healing light then surrounded him, as Singed's face knitted itself back together. The summoner spell Heal repaired all of Jax's damage to him. It was then that poison gas began pouring out of the apparatus on the chemist's back, engulfing the two of them.

Jax, burning, exhausted, and now poisoned, finally succumbed to the multiple afflictions on his body. He became the second to fall.

Shen fought valiantly against the tide of foes, but soon he fell, too. The ninja fell to his knees first, and then landed on his side, splashing in the cold muddy water. A spine lodged into his temple, oozing out blood.

Ashe hopped back, twice, each time avoiding yet another death blow. Yet her retreat was halted by Talon, who appeared behind her, and struck downwards with his blade. Ashe raised her weapon, and barely caught the edge in a notch in her bow of frost. The two grappled for a moment, before Warwick clawed Ashe from behind. The archer yelled in pain, and her strength failed. Talon forced Ashe's bow down, and thrust into her heart. The archer died instantly; white smoke burst from her body before she hit the ground.

The spell finally ended. Yi got to his feet. All around him, his allies were dead. Jax, Shen, Ashe… only Ahri still stood with him, and she was injured. Ahri stumbled back, clutching her side. She grabbed onto Yi to keep from falling. When she had attacked Morgana, Warwick had lashed out, and carved into her ribs. Blood blossomed like scarlet flowers on her clothes.

"Yi…I'm sorry. We couldn't do it for you."  
She laid her head on his shoulder, and he caught her, and gently set her down. She was barely breathing. He brushed her hair down, and stood up to face his foes.

He raised the Dragon Rising. Failure was not an option. He would win. He stepped forwards, his heart oddly calm. It was strange-The four champions that stood before him didn't seem so powerful anymore. After all he had been through, the millennia that had passed…to him, they were only children, and he had so many years behind him. Power coursed through him like it did, so many years ago.

With deliberation, Cho"Gath plunged his tail into the ground; Yi could hear the ground shaking as his tail was ready to erupt under him; he could sense the talons and spines would that would knock him into the air. Yet he did not attempt to run, he only started a slow walk towards the four.  
The first talon shot out from the ground—  
And Yi slipped around the spines and claws like water flowing past a rock.

Cho'Gath seemed dumbfounded by his ability's failure, and remained confused up until Yi walked up to the monster and cut a massive foot clean off. The void terror fell, shaking the ground with the impact, all the while howling in pain and suffering. Yi turned next to Warwick.

Warwick growled in hesitation, but gathered his courage, launched himself at Yi, striking infinitely quickly. The werewolf was indeed fast and swift with his strikes, Yi thought, but something was off. He seemed so… predictable. And even at that, there were only ever two claws to keep track of. With each strike, Yi shifted the Dragon Rising a miniscule bit, deflecting one strike, blocking a blow, or parrying another. The werewolf's eyes widened from seeing every last one of his attacks blocked, but it was too late; Warwick could not stop his attacks any longer even if he wanted to.

The werewolf's random strikes, for a nanosecond, left an opening. Yi took a step towards Warwick, catching both of the werewolf's paws in his grip. Despite the werewolf's struggles, Yi moved his hands together, and transferred one grip to another, trapping both of Warwick's arms with one hand in a vice-like grip.  
The werewolf howled, whined, and thrashed, but he could do nothing as Yi held his sword back, and then swung. The Werewolf fell from the impact, his throat slashed. Blood poured into the river and painted red threads in the water.

Talon cursed, and drew his blade.  
"You… you're a demon!" Yi looked at him, and smiled. He dropped his blade; the Dragon Rising landed stuck upright in the mud of the river. Talon swore "Mocking me?"  
The assassin charged, thrusting his blade forwards at Yi. He could see the fine metal as it shone in the light… and he could see the slightest imperfections in the blade. Yi stepped down, still in front of the charging Talon. He selected a twig, and then deflected Talon's blade, causing him to stumble to the side. The assassin looked around, confused, and then spun to face Yi. He disappeared, landed behind Yi, and then swung downwards with his blade.

Without even looking, Yi flicked his twig up, and sliced Talon's blade in half. The edge fell harmlessly into the river, as did the assassin, who looked at his ruined weapon, dumbfounded.

"How…did?"  
"Who knows?" Yi held the twig to the assassin's throat. "But something tells me you don't want to be hit by this." Yi flicked the twig up, and tapped Talon on the head. Talon cursed, stumbled back, tripped, fell in the river, and scrambled back from the Wuju bladesman. The assassin knocked right into Singed.  
"Singed-! We need to fall back!" The Chemist did not respond. He only stared coldly past Talon. 'Didn't you hear me? We need to-" Talon grabbed Singed, and in a flash, Singed grabbed the assassin's forearm. The chemist squeezed with crushing strength.  
"Ah—ah! B*stard! Let—go-AGGH!" The chemist's muscles flexed, and the assassin's arm snapped like it was made of sugar. "AGGH! My arm!"  
"Which behind your brain, is the second least useful part of you." Singed threw the assassin at Yi's feet. The injured man soaked in the muddy water, moaning.

"This ends here, Yi." In response, Yi raised his sword.  
"Does it?"  
"You have no idea." Singed drew a small crystal vial that held a drop of black liquid. Within the liquid, snake-like bodies writhed against each other. It was the color of death… and unholy life.  
Singed gave the vial a glance, before tossing the vial at Yi. The Wuju Bladesman caught the vial on his blade, breaking the crystal on its  
edge.

And then the world turned to fire.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

In Valoran, it is whispered among commoners and peasants that the first dragons were born from fire, and that their mothers would bathe them with tongues of flame; both cleansing and tempering the scales of their young. Others whisper that dragons have hearts of fire, and that when they birth, they steal the fire of their parents, in the hopes to one day surpass them. Still others trade tales that dragons are literally fire given life, and that they are birthed from raging volcanoes and monstrous forest fires. Across the world, the stories reach the same conclusion: the strongest of all beings can only be fireborne.

Master Yi walked out of the fire; suddenly striding out of the flames like he was born from it, and carrying Ahri in his arms. Black flames licked at his armor and at the nine-tailed fox's clothes, charring them both an ugly black. His boots crunched upon dried, blackened dirt that was once lush, moist river mud. His gaze was fixed on Ahri, travelling upon and down her form. His eyes fell on her wound in her ribs. The flames had cauterized the rip, stopping the bleeding. Despite all of it, she seemed to be better off.

The potion that Singed had thrown… it had vaporized all of the river water. No, it used the water as fuel to grow stronger.

When Singed tossed the vial at Yi, the glass broke, and the contents spilled onto Talon. Black faceless serpents birthed from the man, and spilled into the water, which birthed more serpents. Dozens of these serpents writhed and twisted and darted freely through the water… until two of them collided with each other. Fire erupted from them, and suddenly the entire river had become a raging inferno. Yi had only just managed to rescue Ahri from the explosion before all in the river was consumed. Talon, Cho'Gath, Warwick, even Baron Nashor fell victim to the explosion. There was nothing left where the entire river once was but blackened corpses.

Singed stood above the black chasm that once was the river. Power coursed through him, empowering his muscles and magic, for he was the one who had slayed Baron Nashor. He had become Exalted with Baron Nashor. He stared down at the still-moving figures of Yi with Ahri, with slight disappointment.

"Do you see my newest creation, Yi? It is called the Hydra, and it is my masterpiece. Any fresh water can be turned into a bomb, and the chemicals only feed upon more water. Castles will fall in days as their garrison either dies from their water exploding or from thirst later. Cities will burn, and if they are near a river, they will be wiped off of the face of the earth. It is the ultimate weapon of war; and will be the end of all wars." He gave a maniacal grin. "Now you know why your precious summoners died. This little vial makes me... important"

"Not all wars, Singed." Yi leveled his sword at Singed. "My war ends with you."*  
"Come then, Yi. I'll be waiting" Singed turned, and disappeared into the jungle, in the direction of Purple's Base.

Yi started to follow, but gasped, and clutched at his sides. He was badly burned from Singed's chemicals. He didn't want to look at his marks, but he could sense the charred flesh from under his coat.  
"Yi…" Ahri got up, slowly. She gave him a weak smile as she stood, but it quickly faded as she fell down onto the ground. Yi ran to her to help her up, but she waved it off. "Are you going to him, Yi?" She looked up at him, and saw pain in his face, as he bent down to help her. Yi gripped her hand, then slowly turned, and gazed off into the direction of Purple Team's Nexus. He could just barely see the massive crystal glowing in the distance, set in sharp relief to the rising dawn. "He's strong. And you're hurt."  
"I have to. I need to finish it here."  
Ahri nodded, and fell against an old weirwood. She slumped down, laid her head back, and let out a long sigh. She tilted her head and gave Yi a tired smile. This time it stuck.  
"Then go, Yi. We're all waiting for you. For your victory."

He wordlessly turned, and left.

Just like he expected, Singed was waiting for him at the heart of Purple Team's base. The chemist sat perched above a mountain of super minion corpses, piled high against the huge, glowing crystal that was the Purple Nexus. When the chemist saw Yi, he slowly got up, and descended from his throne of the conquered. In his manner, the chemist stood tall and majestic; his muscles did not seem so wasted, his form not pasty, but clean, and his limbs not gangly, but strong and tough.

_He looks like a king,_ something in Yi told him_. I would follow such strength,_said a dark voice in him.

But hate quickly flooded any admiration Yi had for Singed's regal appearance. Instead, the mind of a warrior took over. He quickly surveyed the Chemist's advantages. Purple wings wreathed in dark flames, the Exaltation of the Baron, spun about Singed's form in a ring. Sheathed behind Singed's massive shield was a fully charged Rod of Ages. The crystal staff was a design that featured of loop-feedback of magical energy from the moment it was created, meaning it would continuously grow in power as long as it held together; but deemed impractical in that within a few hours, the rod destroy itself. Its effects were perfect for the Summoner's Rift, however.  
Cloaked about Singed's face were the cloth materials of a Rabadon's Deathcap. Singed had opted for the mask design; few Champions cared to wear the witch's pointed hat that it normally was crafted in. The Deathcap would boost Singed's magical power to ridiculous heights.  
Finally, clutched in his free hand, was a six-foot long staff, crowned with a glowing crystal eyeball that shone with a cold light. The Archangel's Staff. The staff grew more powerful with each ability use, and to Yi's incredulous gaze, it seemed to be fully charged.  
Hell, Yi thought grimly. The chemist has been shopping.

"No more words." Singed said, as he raised his shield. The chemist inched slowly forwards at Yi, covered behind his Empowered Bulwark; the tower shield easily as tall, and far wider than he was. At a three arm's lengths away, he started circling Yi, looking for an opportunity to flank him.

Yi raised his Dragon Rising to aim his point at the shield. The tip of the blade almost touched the wood of the Empowered Bulwark. And he started circling Singed in step with him.

Like two lovers, the foes were locked in a mortal dance. With each step, the other mirrored. Initiative; a reversal, a feint, on one part had to be matched be the other, under the penalty of death. Never breaking sight, never breaking step, the two Champions first dueled with their feet. A deadly spiral was drawn in the center of purple team's base by the battle-born steps of the Champions.

It was Singed who first lost patience. The chemist slammed his shield down, then charged Yi from behind the spiked bulwark, wielding the slab of wood and metal like a battering ram. Yi spun to the side, anticipating the chemist to charge forth like a bull, but the gangly man stopped with impossible speed, and opened his guard.  
From behind his shield, Singed swung his Archangel's Staff like a club in an upwards arc, aiming the eye-like crystal straight at Yi's face.  
Yi barely avoided the staff by leaning to the side, and then was forced to roll off to the left as Singed brought his staff crashing back down.  
The attack missed, instead smashing the magically strengthened rock slab like it was made of sugar. An ugly crater had blossomed where Yi was only a half-second ago. Yi caught only a glimpse of the damage before Singed grabbed Yi by the helm, and then swung him over his head like a rag doll. The chemist slammed Yi into the stone floor with bone-shattering force. Only Yi's natural agility kept the chemist from dashing all of his bones into bloody splinters. Still, Yi could feel the broken ribs and the cracked femur as he rose. His organs were bounced about, too, as he could taste blood, and there were still his burns from earlier.

The chemist didn't press his luck, and crouched behind his shield again. The man intends to wear me down, Yi realized. From that stance, he could charge Yi with impunity, and Yi could only try and guess as to whether the chemist intended to slam with across the trunk with his Bulwark, or stop short, and smash him to bloody bits with his staff.

Yi raised his sword again, in the same stance that they had started with. The chemist charged in the same motion as before. He didn't get the chance to either charge forth, or stop short, however, as Yi ended his motion early. He stabbed the Dragon Rising hard into the Bulwark, and then pushed, forcing the Chemist back for a yard. Then Yi withdrew his blade, and not giving the Chemist time to react, he spun around the shield, bypassing the wood slab, and ended up between Singed and the Chemist's bulwark, with his sword to the ground.  
Almost lazily, Yi drew his blade up, cutting Singed from thigh to shoulder, and then back down, cutting the chemist across the face.  
The man stumbled back, blood spurting from his entire length of his body. Singed slammed his shield down, and then crouched. With blood-covered eyes, Singed surveyed the damage.  
The man felt his chest, and then smiled.  
Yi collapsed, gasping. He looked up, and saw what he had cut. The blade sliced apart Singed's shirt, revealing thorned gray metal underneath. The spiked armor of Thornmail. With each of his strikes, the armor had rammed jagged edges of magic all about his chest and arms.

Yi rose, slowly.

Then, with blinding speed, Yi leapt into the air, flipping his blade down. He passed Singed, but struck with the mass of runes and hexes that erupted from his Braveheart. Gaining momentum, Yi wrapped his blade with even more hexes and runes, and then struck Singed across the chest. The Thornmail struck back, and it hurt, but the runes and hexes succeeded in trapping Singed at that spot.  
With both hands, Yi flung his foot-swords past Singed, cutting the man further. He then stepped into the fifth dimension, cutting past Singed once, twice as he dragged his Dragon Rising in the real world.  
Yi stepped into the real world, and looked back.

It was a bloody sight. Singed was carved all over; each cut split a curtain of blood on Singed's form, and hexes and runes still wormed their way into the wounds, dealing more damage. But still, the chemist stood.  
Singed raised his eyes.  
"Is that all?"  
Yi said nothing. They both knew that he had given it his all.  
"Well, Yi." Signed drew a red, poisonous-looking potion from his sack. "You lose, then." Yi felt a string of fear worm its way into his stomach.  
"The Insanity Potion. You hadn't taken it yet?" Yi was hoping that the chemist had already used his ultimate ability.

The chemist smiled, tipped back, and then took a draught. The results were immediate. The chemist coughed, and jerked forwards. Decades of regularly consuming the Insanity Potion still could not stop him from convulsing. There was no building a tolerance up to this drug. The chemist pitched forwards, landed on all fours, and then coughed up bile. The man raised his fists, and slammed them onto the rock floor. His bare fists crushed runed stone like they were made of sand.  
The man slowly got up, and stared Yi straight in the eyes. The chemist's eyes shone red from the drug. But the intelligent light in his eyes remained the same. Yi realized it then. The man was always insane.

The man slowly picked up his Bulwark and staff, but with velocity erupting from his calm, lunged at Yi with blinding speed. This speed was a different kind of speed from Warwick's or Yi's. Every twitch of Yi's muscles, every rise and fall of his chest, every slight tilt to his blade, was all hungrily absorbed by Singed's enhanced eyes, and responded too immediately. Yi tried to block the charging chemist, but Singed saw the block coming before Yi even raised it, and smashed the sword back with titanic strength. The chemist spun his staff, and then rapidly whipped it at Yi's temple, carving the air into angry hisses with his stroke.  
Yi barely managed to crouch in time; the staff only gave him windburn as it smashed into the stone casing of the Purple Nexus. The rock, despite being designed to be impenetrable, still cracked.

Strike after brutal strike nearly killed Yi; even being missed by Singed was bad news, for the chemist now struck so hard that his staff strikes more resembled explosions, and chunks of rock flew out from his attacks like shrapnel.

Yi ignited his sword with the Wuju Prison to try and trap Singed; the man was simply too fast for him, but as he did, the Chemist vanished in a blink of light. The summoner spell Flash. Yi spun, but it was too late. Singed grabbed Yi by the neck; his muscles swelled, and bulged as he squeezed the life out of Yi, waiting for the loud crack of the master's neck bones snapping out of place.

"I win," rasped Singed,  
But a high, clear voice cut through before Singed could claim victory, "Not today!" and a blur of smoke and lightning burst into Purple Team's base. The Chemist grunted as a bolt of lightning shot its way into his gut, and a nine-tailed blur smashed at his legs, tripping him. The blur stopped for a moment, before grabbing Yi, and dashing a few yard away.  
Yi looked up, from his air-deprived eyes, and saw the blurry face of Ahri. The fox was still wounded yet still defiant.  
"Yi," She touched his cheek. "I saved you this time."

From behind, Singed grabbed Ahri by the neck. The man was beyond furious. With cold hate, he dealt out the fate that would have befallen Yi. He slowly squeezed the life out of Ahri, grinding his way down to her bone and windpipe.  
"Yi…" choked Ahri; Yi tried to get up, but his body failed him, and he collapsed. "... I… win… for us…"

With a final effort, Singed crushed the Nine-tailed fox's neck, and he threw body off to the side like a doll. White smoke burst from her body as her spirit returned to her Nexus.  
"That was just a preview of what I'll do to the two of you when I'm done!"  
Singed charged Yi, at twice the speeds of before. The rock cracked and broke to bits from the impacts of Signed feet as the chemist sprinted at Yi. Dropping his staff, he reached out for Yi's neck—

But the Wuju master stepped right past him. The chemist fumbled about, before wheeling to face Yi behind him. Master Yi was not looking at Singed anymore. He stopped at Ahri's body, and crouched down. With a gentle hand, he brushed back her hair, and closed her eyes.

"I promised Rixa I would come back… I begged Hae-In to stay safe… whatever I say, I always fail  
"Not this time. I will win, Ahri."

He stood up. He glanced up at Singed.  
"I made a promise, chemist." Yi raised his sword. "That I would win. That I would save her from you. "  
"Oh truly, Ionian? You have a habit of making promises you can't keep. Did you promise your wife back in that pig-sty of a village that you would come back for her? Yet she choked on toxics and died like the rest of your village by me! Did you promise your fox-wife you would protect her? Instead, that fox was crushed into paste, and is now feeding an ugly tree!  
"You promised revenge on me, I bet. Murderer of your entire village." Singed gazed triumphantly at Yi's near-broken form, and beat his largely whole chest. "And how's that working out for you?"

"You'll find out."

Yi thought back to his decades of training and years of studying ancient Wuju scrolls. In neither training nor text, could Yi find an ultimate move that suited him. There were hundreds… yet they all could not get the job done. There was not a single master, he realized, that had the ability to defeat Singed in his current state. What could he, do, that hundreds of generations of Wuju masters could not….!

_Ah-ha_

Yi leveled his sword. What he would have to do then, is do what none has ever done. It was there he would find his strength.  
"Come, Yi! Come break one more promise!" Singed pounded his staff on his shield.

"As you wish."  
Yi swung up, and brought his sword down.

Singed dodged to the side, thinking it was a ranged attack, but nothing came. The chemist peeked out from behind his bulwark, and then stood up, laughing. He took one step.  
"You can't b-" Singed lurched forwards, stumbling. He was being dragged forwards towards Yi.  
"Uoh! What?" Singed dug in his heels, but it was to no avail. The chemist could no longer take a step from Yi; it was like he was a magnet. The sound of rushing wind enveloped the two of them.  
"Have you ever looked into a tear into another world, Singed?" Yi motioned at the patch of air Singed was being drawn to. A shimmer of light was the only clue that Yi had opened a tear into the fifth dimension, causing a tremendous vacuum of air to erupt from nowhere. "It is a world of light and darkness, and madness… You would feel right at home there."  
Yi set his sword down, muttering. He paused for a moment to let out a parting shot: "Too bad you're going to die, here."  
The Dragon Rising was changing… no, rather, the air about it was changing. Faint rainbows and bends in the light wrapped about the edge, as Yi struggled to raise the blade.  
"No one, not a single Wuju master in thirty thousand years as ever wrapped the tears of Space and Time that we use to enter the world to Alpha Strike, about their blade like this.  
"A rip between dimensions…forms an infinitely sharp blade… it forms an edge that can slice through anything." The space-time tears wrapped around Yi's blade was starting to form…into the shape of a sword thrice its host's size.  
"Today is your day to die, Singed!" Yi stepped forwards, and swung his blade. Just as the ethereal blade began to cut its way into Singed's bulwark, Yi shouted, about the howling winds and screams of fury from the chemist,

"This is the Dragon Slayer… Alpha Strike!"

With an enormous effort, Yi slashed clean through Singed. The blade nearly sliced Singed in two. Yi didn't even know what was holding the chemist together; he could not feel the resistance of the wood of the Bulwark, or the metal of the Thornmail, or the bone of the Chemist's spine. All of it parted like butter from a hot knife.  
The chemist simply hung there, like he was dead.

As Yi started to walk away, Singed roared, and turned to grab Yi, but he was stopped by a point.

Yi held his Dragon Rising horizontally, in a reverse grip that kept the point aimed at Singed's heart.  
"And now comes the superior second strike. You didn't notice, did you, Singed? The tears in space and time have now all transferred to you."

Yi looked back, and saw how well the tears had collected around Singed, trapping him with their vacuums, and drawing everything to them. Yi raised his blade higher, so Singed could see how Yi struggled to hold onto his sword; his arm shook and trembled with effort, as the blade continually tried to leap out of its master's hands and to the numerous vacuums surrounding Singed.  
"This is goodbye, Singed."

He let go, and the sword flew like an arrow from Yi's hand, and it seemed with a mind of its own, buried itself in Singed's chest. The chemist lurched once, and then pitched over. The man hit the ground bodily; black, chemical stained blood oozed from his sternum. Finally, white smoke burst from his body for the first time in the match. The chemist died.

With deliberation, Yi reached in and drew his blade out. Black blood dripped from his sword's edge. Yi gave a solemn bow to the fallen chemist, before walking up to the Purple Nexus. Master Yi climbed to the top, until he stood on the Nexus, lit up a bright purple from the glow below him. He drew his blade up, gathered a shred of space-time to tear about his blade and plunged it into the heart of the Purple Nexus.

The crystal cracked, then shattered. And then it was over.

_*Credit to Modern Warfare 3 for this line. ("My war ends with you") Shameless plagiarizer, I am._


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

His knees were starting to ache. Yi looked up from behind his clasped hands. In front of him was his Dragon Rising blade, struck into the ground behind a small plate set in the dirt with three small peaches on it. He glanced to his side, and caught a glimpse of Ahri, kneeling like him, her hands clasped in front of her in prayer. Her eyes were closed, and her mouth barely shifted as she whispered to the swaying mulberry tree in front of them. The cherry blossoms of the Sakuras around them were starting to fall, swirling about Ahri like pink snow. It was beautiful, yet still she kneeled, eyes clasped shut, oblivious to the elegance of the scene. Seconds, minutes passed, still in silence. Finally, she stopped, and raised her eyes to the swaying branches above them.

She glanced back down, and poked Yi.

"You finished before me," she said, teasing. "Does that I mean I loved Hae-In more than you?  
"It means I am better with my words, and not as good at faking them"  
"That's meannn~ I meant every word!"

The two rose, and started back down the winding dirt path to the League.

"Yi…" Ahri grabbed both hands behind her, and started swinging around, dancing around Yi. "Are you happy now? That you finally brought Justice to Singed?"  
"I… don't know." After their battle on Summoner's Rit concluded, Singed was turned over to the Tribunal of the League, who voted by an overwhelming majority to punish. Singed, chemist of Zuan, was sentenced to die today. After the sentence was read out, an entire platoon of palace guards dragged the chemist off in chains. The man shuffled in silence; the only sounds that echoed through the Tribunal hall was the determined applause of the jury, and the clanks of Singed's chains. Neither Yi nor Ahri wanted to be in the Institute when Singed was set to die, so they decided to visit Hae-In's grave.

"I'm not sure what this feeling is. For the past few decades, I have had purpose burning in my heart... my revenge." he looked at his palm, and then clenched it. "And now it is finished. I'm done."

"Then are you satisfied?"  
"No... I have given up too much for what I gained."  
"You're not happy?"  
Yi shook his head, frowning.  
"I can't say I'm sad, Ahri. I'm feeling a bit... confused."  
"You're at peace, I think. And when you're at peace, you're happy." Ahri gave a soft smile. "It's been a long time since someone hasn't been trying to kill you. Maybe that's why you're happy."

Yi let a small laugh escape him.  
"It could also be… because I'm here with you."

Between them, wrapped in chains, the two palace guards dragged Singed by his gangly arms up a winding staircase. Their footsteps clattered in the silence of the halls; the clangs of metal greaves against stone steps echoed into the darkness. After a minute of climbing, they had reached their destination:the easternmost summoning chamber of the League. The great summoner Istavaan's old chambers. The door had been sealed off with the most powerful of the League's runes, and two turrets, removed from the Summoner's Rift, now stood guard over the entrance to the League's execution chamber.

The guard on the right removed an amulet with a glowing green gem from his neck, and held the jewelry to the runes affixed upon the door. The runes glowed red, then shifted, and the door swung open.

Roughly, the guards then threw Singed through the doorway. The chemist stumbled into the chamber, only to almost run into another door. He had been tossed into a small, narrow hallway that had obviously been added on after the initial construction. This door was marked with the same sealing runes, but it was of an older, out-dated style build, and the runes themselves were glowing green instead of red like the ones behind him. Then, the runes behind Singed shifted, and turned green, just as the ones in front turned an angry red. Singed lightly pushed on the door behind, even though he knew it was sealed fast. He knew there was only one thing that awaited him beyond the other door.

It was death.

He opened the inner door.

Inside was a dusty old room, with only a crack of light shining in from a circular hole in the ceiling. At the center was a summoning circle, just like every one of the others in the League. The only difference in this chamber was the floor was strewn with broken, rotted furniture, and adorned with a single, massive bloodstain that spread onto a side of the summoning runes, aged brown from over the years.

A voice like gravel crushed by steel cut in.  
"Singeed of Zuaan…"

Singed's head swiveled to look at the source of sound. A pile of broken sticks was laid in the corner of the room; far away from the light. Some of the pieces were broken shards of the handle of a scythe, while other sticks… were the pieces of something far, far worse.

"I have peered into your black soul, and found it pleasing." Two glowing green lights, shining like coals, burnt bright from inside the pile of sticks. "Do you know who I am?"

Singed turned to face the corner. He stared fearlessly at the wood cluster.

"You are the Harbinger of Doom." Singed slowly strode towards the pile of sticks. "You are the League's executioner. You are Fiddlesticks."  
Singed knelt, to look at the glowing green coals better. "You are my death."  
"That, and more, Singed of Zuan. Your life will be sacrificed, but in return, untold stores of power await you." The sticks clattered noisily, and then suddenly shot into the air, forming themselves into a vaguely skeletal shape. The wooden skeleton held out a splintered hand to Singed. "Your heart is good and black. You would do well with me."

"Life, for power, Singed of Zuan. In your heart is ambition, pride, and ruthlessness. I like it."

"My life for power? How can that be? Are you going to turn me into a lich, like Karhus?"  
"I am going to turn you into something far greater than that pitiful zombie could ever be, for I am not of this world, and my power once resided in the heavens. I was once called _Archangul_, now called _Archdaemon_."

The skeleton of sticks floated closer, and the potato sack that once was Fiddlestick's head hovered face-to face with Singed.

"My true name is Baal Adramalach, Lord of Avarice, god-ancestor of crows and carrion-feeders, and your death, and your salvation. When you take my essence into you, Singed of Zuan, all the hunger that eats at your soul shall cease. When you take my essence into you, Singed of Zuan, you will become a god.

"All I require from you… is to die."

A spirit, black as night, yet with a glow within, escaped the skeleton of sticks, to float to Singed. The chemist instinctively cupped his hands, and from nowhere, black liquid pooled like blood. The blackness filled the cupped hands halfway, before the wooden skeleton before Singed went lifeless, and clattered to the floor, as the blackness grew more vibrant and alive. Singed stared into the inky liquid, until he could see his reflection on the surface. The liquid looked like death, with it's black pitch. It smelled like death, one could recall tones of ink and rotted meat and charcoal. And it felt like death; so icy and cold, it numbed Singed's fingers to the point of frostbite, and stained his bandages and skin.

"But if this is the price of power..." With only a slight hesitation, the chemist tipped his head back, and poured the blackness through his cloth mask, and into his throat.

He stared up at the light, letting the ink slip down his throat. Without a word, the chemist's arms fell down to his side.

And then he died.

The two palace guards stood watch over the execution chamber. It was policy to stand guard over an in-process execution for seven days and seven nights, even though no one, innocent or guilty, had ever escaped that chamber alive. They stood with their backs to the door, watching the other wall with deathly bored looks.

Then the door started rattling. The guards looked at each other, and then circled around to aim their points at the runed door. The seals were running haywire; shifting and twisting like snakes made of light. The two turrets set up by the door activated, and power hummed to their upraised stone scepters.

Then it stopped.

The guards glanced at each other. One of them let out a relieved sigh.

The wall to the left of the entrance exploded outwards, engulfing one of the guards as he yelled out. The two turrets immediately started firing into the dust; their shots of light punching holes into the swirling clouds about them. The guard that was caught in the explosion struggled to his feet; no easy feat, for his femur was snapped. The man moaned in pain as he used his pike as a walking stick to limp to the safety of the two turrets.

He only got to the first turret before he saw his companion, still a shadowy figure shrouded by the dust, cry out. The unlucky guard seemed to be attacked by a shadow, which raced forwards, easily slipped past the terrified man's pike, and wrapped about his neck. The shadow made only one twist, before the guard's head rolled from his shoulders. The skull, helmet and all, bounced, and rolled on the stone floor before coming to a rest at the injured guard's feet.

The man looked up in terror.

The dust had cleared now. What stood before had the shape of the man they had just dragged into the execution chamber, but he was cloaked in night-black rags and feathers and fur. A scythe, running black and silver, and red with the blood of his friend, was clutched in the thing's hands.

The turrets continued their fire, but the thing didn't even flinch. With one swing of his scythe, the turrets were sliced in half; collapsing to the ground in almost perfect pieces. The thing then turned to look at the remaining guard.

It's head was shrouded by a cloth sack; and in two holes clumsily carved out of the fabric, burned two eyes, bright and green.

The thing stepped towards the trembling guard, and grasped him by the head. It lifted the armored man up like he weighed no more than a toy. The palace guard whimpered, and struggled to no avail. The thing clutched the guard's head like a crane, and drew the man's terrified face to its cloth sack of a head. The voice that clawed its way out of the sack sounded like death.

"You will serve a purpose other than dying", the thing whispered over the struggling man's silent cries. "You will seek the one they name master, and tell him that the one who hates him most has fused with the one who he hates most. Tell him that a pitiful scarecrow has risen once more to take his revenge."

The man let out a long, wordless wail of pure terror.  
"That man took his sword and destroyed the body I had, named Fiddlesticks. Like him, I will have my revenge. That man also robbed the body I once had of god-hood, named Singed. Like that master, I will rip apart his body with pleasure."

The guard would not shut up, so the thing reached up, and ripped out his nose. The man's cries of fear immediately turned to a wordless one of agony.  
"You listen well, my little bird, and you tell this man well", the thing said, dropping the pitiful creature, and crouching over the tortured man. "You tell him…"

The thing removed his sack, to reveal a burned skull, charred to the point of blackness, with two glowing emeralds resting in its eye sockets.

"You tell him this one named Charred is after his soul!"


	19. Chapter 19

With every step it took, a new trail of corpses was blazed. Everything it touched burst into black flames, burning hot enough to melt stone, liquefy steel, and vaporize flesh. Charred strode down the narrow hallways of the Institute of War, carving a path through the palace guards with ridiculous ease. The elite sentinels of the League could not even slow him down; before the Living Embodiment of Greed and Treachery, all was consumed in its hungering, green fire. In his wake, the bodies of countless men lay burning by green fire, or sliced in half by a cruel scythe, or reduced to skeletons by a murder of crows.

Charred reached a heavy, iron-reinforced door nearly twice as tall as he was, and thrice as wide. The demon god tried to push open the barrier, but predictably, it was barred shut from the opposite side.

There was a trace of amusement as Charred pulled its charred-black hand up to the door. With only a slight effort, greedy, emerald-stained fire spilled out from its palm, and onto the door, first eating the wood away like it was made of paper; and then the iron reinforcements, too, first turned to liquid, then into iron steam. The insane heat spilled onto the palace guards directly behind the door, setting them almost immediately ablaze. There was no time for the men to scream, the green fire consumed their bodies, mouths and all, in an instant.

As Charred stepped over the blackened bodies of the guard he just killed, he was greeted by a fence of pikes gripped by men of the Dauntless Vanguard, and a row of Ionian archers above. Far away, an entire squad of Piltover Sharpshooters trained their sniper rifles at his head.

He had just stepped into an ambush.

"Hold your fire!" called out a strong, deep voice.

Charred turned to the source of the noise. Towards him, strode a man who looked practically invincible in his thick steel armor. His shoulder pads were double the volume of his head, hiding a skull that looked almost comically small in its armor. Wavy brown hair flowed from his professionally stoic face. Serious eyes stared down the green blazes that nested in Charred's eye sockets.

"In the name of Justice, and upon my honor," Garen, the Might of Demacia declared, striding forwards with a long, cloth-wrapped bundle. "Here is where you DIE!" The man slammed his bundle into the stone floor, cracking it.

"Demon!", Garen said, hissing. The Might of Demacia then raised his bundle, and let the cloth fall from what he revealed to be… a blade. But not just any blade, for his blade was made completely of light. At the sight of the sun-like sword, the guards cheered.  
"This is the Slayer of Evil, Demonsbane, and legendary sword of our First Demacian King Arthurius!"  
Garen let the light pour from his blade, as he shouted,  
"Tremble before the holy blade… Excalibur!"

Charred turned to face the man, but before he could reply, an arrow shot towards him from one of the archers.

_Thunk!  
_

The expertly placed quarrel would have struck Charred between the eyes if he had not pulled his scythe in front of him to catch the missile. The arrow quivered eagerly, buried within the wood of the handle.  
"There will be no forgiveness for evil." Varus, the Arrow of Retribution, said as he stepped forwards from the ranks of the archers. "You will know suffering for not leaving this world quickly enough, Noxian dog, and from MY HANDS!"

Varus raised his arm, to reveal what he had done to himself.  
"Evil shall be undone by evil! Gaze on wickedness and corruption beyond the reach of even you, Noxian dog!" His entire arm was corrupted with an amber crystal found only in the depths of the Pit of Corruption, forming a massive bow at the end of his grip. "These blight crystals will eat a hole straight through your heart!"

Finally, Charred sensed the presence of a third fighting spirit. He turned to face a man holding a massive, ugly hammer. Within a flash, Jayce transformed his hammer into a massive handheld cannon. His machine hummed with energy as electricity and magic flowed through its many parts.

"It's time to make a stand, ugly." Jayce leveled his cannon at the demon, charging it up. "As long as we're here, the future won't ever have you... and in case you're wondering…"

Jayce raised his cannon, and fired a blast straight up into the air. Charred watched the projectile shoot up into the sky, and punch a hole straight through the ceiling, and into the sky, to the cheers of the Piltover sharpshooters.  
"I've removed my limiters. This is the end for you, doll face!"

Charred stared down at the three champions before him, totally silent. Then an evil and gravelly sound came crawling out of the demon's bare-bone jaw. It was laughter.

"You can't be serious. You think you three alone could kill me? Fiddlesticks alone could have wiped the bunch of you out. You all seem so interested in telling me what you're going to do, so let me return the favor: I will kill you all. You, Demacian, and you, Ionian, and you, whatever the hell you are."

Charred rubbed his face, counting off each of the soldiers in front of him."I will then kill all of your men. After there is not a living soul in this hall, I will take your heads from your bodies, and switch them about, just to see what it would look like. Then I will nail your bodies to the roof of the Insititute as fair warning to any more who would think to resist my rule."

Charred then addressed to the battalion before him.

"All of you men here, men of Ionia, Demacia, and Piltover, watch carefully. I will show you how three brave men die."  
"Men! No interference!" Garen swung Excalibur forwards and stepped into a combat stance. "This one's mine!"

The Demacian circled Charred, his sword at ready. Behind him, Varus had already nocked another crystal arrow into his bow, and Jayce had his cannon leveled at the demon's head. The three orbited around Charred, like planets around a sun, each body seeking that one opening to strike.

Charred held these men in contempt, but he was no fool. A single misstep here could mean a second death. The demon reversed his scythe, and held it vertically between his skeletal hands, waiting. Still the three heroes circled about Charred with the likeness of a pack of jackals circling a lion.

It was Varus who took the first shot. The Ionian fired an incredibly precise shot to the demon's eye, and while the first shot was still flying through the air, Varus drew a second arrow and launched it straight after the first. Charred deflected the quarrels with a single spin of its scythe, but this left its upper body open to Garen, who took the chance to leap forwards and strike diagonally with Excalibur.

Charred was forced to free one hand, and stop the Holy Blade with its bare hand. The demon grunted as the magical force burned his palm. The Might of Demaica did not falter; he pushed forwards with his blade, driving the burning edge deeper into the demon's palm, causing the demon to cry out in pain.

Roaring, Charred ignored the pain and thrust his arm upwards; his strength greatly surpassed that of a mere human, and with his other hand, he dropped his scythe, and grabbed Garen by the neck. With a single motion, Charred turned, and threw Garen over his back and into the ground. The Demacian, encased in nearly a half-ton of steel, cracked the stone floor in a spiderweb pattern as he bounced off of the rock.  
Charred made to follow, but was stopped short by an explosion on his back. The force lurched the demon forwards, and onto his scythe. Charred gripped his scythe, and swung it backwards, sliced straight through three shots that erupted from Jayce's cannon. The demon charged Jayce, covering twenty, thirty meters with less than three steps. He swung his cruel blade, aiming to cut the Piltoverian in two, but in a flash, Jayce's cannon transformed into a massive hammer, and the man barely managed to stop the scythe from separating his waist with the handle of his maul.

The engineer was no fighter, but his technology amplified his strength. The man fought almost equally with Charred as they struggled to gain dominance over one another in this contest of power. But Charred could see valves popping, and joints sparking as it wrestled its scythe closer and closer to Jayce's vitals. It could see the uncertainty creep into the Piltoverian's eyes, as they both realized who was going to win.

_HAAH!_  
A piercing shot, far stronger than the annoying arrows Charred deflected before, drilled straight through both of Charred's arms. Varus had taken the shot that saved Jayce's life. The interruption gave Jayce the edge to overpower Charred with his hammer, and then flip it around, and slam the demon in the chest. The thundering blow knocked even Charred back a few meters.

"Death to evil!" Garen's voice cut in, as he charged from behind Charred, and thrust Excalibur through the demon's chest.

The demon looked down, and with horror, saw that the work that the limit-removed Jayce and a holy sword could do. A searing crack had formed on its breast, glowing hot with energy, with the holy sword Excalibur protruding from its chest like a horrifying tree. The soldiers all around them already started cheering victory.

"You… you all…" Charred fumbled with its words, his mind clouded with rage. "GO TO HELL!" It flung its arms to its sides, and a hundred thousand crows burst from its body, and flew about him in a storm. The crows ate away ate the heroes, and the surrounding troops, and as they did, they re-vitalized Charred, giving him more energy to continue the torrent of birds.  
"Die to my Immortal Crowstorm! Die! Die!"

Garen stumbled back from the attack, but he was caught from behind by Jayce.  
"Let's finish this!" Jayce transformed his hammer into a cannon once more. "Varus!" Jayce called back, "You ready?"  
"Always, comrade!" Varus raised his blight arrow bow, and even through the storm of crows drew a bead on Charred.  
Jayce helped Garen up even through the torrent and put a hand on his shoulder.  
"For a bright tomorrow," Jayce said, "We end this."  
"We forge onwards," Garen murmured back.

The three heroes looked towards Charred, wrapped in his storm of crows, and started their last charge. Varus let loose a stream of corruption that caught half of the crows flying above them, and wrapped them in strands of darkness, freezing them in their place. With a second motion, the Arrow of Retribution fired a piercing shot straight through the crows, clearing a path to the center. For an instant, Charred was visible in the storm.  
Jayce laid down an acceleration gate, and then fired a shot through it, widening the path through the crows. Without another moment's hesitation, Garen and Jayce charged through the gate, speeding the two of them to incredible speeds. They forged forwards through the storm, even though the crows grew thicker by the second. Jayce leapt ahead of Garen, and flipped his cannon upwards. When the weapon came down, it was a hammer, the strike from the skies punched yet another hole in the crows. The Piltoverian then birthed a field of electricity about them, clearing away the last of the crows.  
Charred turned in surprise, and gave a long, wordless cry of fury as the last of his defenses burned away.

"Garen! GO!"  
The Might of Demacia charged forwards, Exaclibur in hand, and leaped over Charred. The man seemed to hover in the air for a second.  
"For Demacia! Demacian Justice!"  
Garen thrust Excalibur into Charred, piercing it through it chest. The demon screamed, as all of the crows withered and died away. Charred fell to a knee, miraculously still alive, even though the holy sword was stuck through nearly all of it, all the while burning it with the blade's divine strength.

It was finished. The soldiers started cheering, and raising their arms to the sky.

Garen and Jayce approached the mortally wounded demon, weapons at ready. Garen put a hand on the hilt of the protruding Excalibur.  
"Speak your last words, demon, and then I will give you honor in death."  
Charred did not respond at first. A long silence swept over the scene as the demon struggled to find its words.  
Charred looked up, and stared straight into Garen's hard eyes. The demon was searching for something… deep in Garen. And it found it.

"Luxanna Crownguard"  
Garen's eyes turned uneasy for a second.  
"What-"  
Then the crows came forth.

Garen woke in chains, trapped to the fragments of an aging stone wall. He seemed to be chained to the highest level of an ancient tower. He could see the sky; orange and black, dark with the fading lights of the sunset. And he could see one more thing.

_Lux._

The girl was chained to a great pole, high above Garen and his reach. Her blond hair burned fiery in the sunset, and it whipped about in the cold wind. She looked down at her brother with sad, desperate eyes. Her eyes were supposed to be blue, but here, they were a deep, soulless black.

"Brother. Help." A crow landed on her shoulder, but she did not look at it. The bird cocked its head curiously at the girl.  
"Lux! Hold on!" Garen struggled at his chains, but they held him fast.  
More crows started to flock around Lux.  
"Brother. Help."  
"Lux!" They poked curiously at her face, and where they bit, she fell away, leaving only blackness underneath.  
"Brother. Help."  
"LUX!"  
They started eating her alive, as Garen screamed in horror.

In the real world, Garen slumped to the ground, his eyes totally black. The very second Garen loosened his grip on Exaclibur, a blackened hand shot forwards, and grabbed Jayce by the face. The Piltoverian screamed in agony as the demon's flesh burned at his skin.

"I am the Archdaemon of Avarice and Greed, and all that was once yours is mine." Jayce's power flowed into Charred, as the man twitched and shuddered. Black stream flowed from Jayce's heart, his eyes, and his hammer, all consumed hungrily by Charred. The streams grew thicker and thicker, until they abruptly stopped, and Jayce hung limp.  
Charred dropped the man, and licked its non-existent lips.

With a twist, Charred transformed his scythe into a massive black crossbow, with scythe-like blades where the arms of a bow should be. The demon smiled at his theft.  
"How fun. I like this man's abilities."

"No!" Varus raised his bow, and fired, but it was futile. Charred only had to point his crossbow, and fire a dark bolt. The missile shot through Varus' arrow, splitting it in four, before driving forwards, and through Varus' heart. The Arrow of Retribution crumpled without another sound.

At this, the soldiers around them started shouting, and raising their weapons. Many of them fired shots that went awry, splashing against the stone floor, or harmlessly glancing off of Charred's body.  
Charred turned to face Garen. The demon reached over its back, and pulled out the holy sword from inside it. Excalibur quivered and shook from being wielded by someone so evil. All the while, Garen was still trapped in his own world of his worst fears. The man merely stared forwards, in a kneeling position, murmuring nonsense.

Charred gave a moment of respect.  
"That was quite the strike. You almost had me there."

The demon rest the tip of the once-holy sword at the base of Garen's neck, and then raised it high, in an execution pose. The sound of Garen's slow, labored breathing could barely be heard over the commotion. The Dauntless Vanguard were practically in a frenzy, ready to leap out of their shoes, but they stood fast, unwilling to disobey their captain's last orders. Cries of _"Mercy!"_ and_ "Take Me Instead!" _started ringing through the hall, but they might as well have pleaded to the rocks around them.

The demon slipped from quiet anger into uncontrolled rage in a flash. He screamed out his words,  
"Almost had me .. but not enough!"

Then Charred rammed the sword through the Demacian's exposed neck. The Demacian gave a choking cry as he went rigid, and then limp. The man slumped down in his metal shell; his bulky armor held him in his kneeling position as he died. Garen once sworn his life to Jarvan the Third in that kneeling position, with a blade lightly rested on his shoulder. He gave that life away in the same fashion, with a sword blade sticking grotesquely out of his spine.

At the Dauntless Vanguard charged.

Charred roared viscerally at his new foes, heaving his scythe, and cutting a swath through the first row of the elite soldiers. The Piltover snipers started firing, and the Ionian archers let loose a volley of deadly arrows.

Charred cut through them all.

…

When it was finished, and Charred alone stood in the midst of a sea of blood and body parts, the demon sought out the holy sword, Excalibur. It picked up the blade, and took a moment to admire how the sword-smiths had managed to craft a blade of pure light.  
He then flicked the blade up, and swung at the length of the blade with his scythe. The holy sword, Slayer of Evil, Demonsbane, and legendary sword of the First Demacian King Arthurius, shattered like glass, and fell apart in glints of light.

Charred turned, walking out the doors of the Institute. He still had his revenge to take.  
_Master Yi… for all of the pain I have suffered here,_ Charred raged in his head, _I will make your suffering unlike any other's._


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

An explosion thundered in the distance.

The birds were frightened from their cherry blossom perches. The trees trembled and shook from the shockwave; loosing thousands more petals into the sky. Master Yi and Ahri were lost in a torrent of flowers born from fear. Yi turned to the direction of the sound, to the direction of the Institute of War. He and Ahri spotted an electric shock blast, like those that were born from Jayce's cannon, but larger, burst through the roof of the Institute and soar into the sky.

"Something's wrong," Yi muttered, and he took a step to the Institute, but Ahri grabbed his arm. "Ahri, what-?"

"Yi!" She stared straight into his eyes, fear palpable. "Don't go!"

"What—what are you talking about?"

Yi tried to take another step, but the fox would not let go. He wheeled on her. "Ahri! Stop this! Our friends might be in trouble!"

"I know. That's why you can't go, Yi."

"What?"

"I won't let you. You matter to me more than anyone in the world, Yi." Her grip tightened. "More than our friends." Her arms trembled "More than the League." Her voice trailed into a whisper "More than myself."

Ahri bowed her head and laid it on Yi's chest.

"Yi… please trust in your friends. They are all so strong, but I'm weak and selfish. I only want you. For me, Yi, please let it go," she pleaded, "You have given others so much, Yi. You gave Rixa your life for revenge. You gave Hae-In love for heartbreak. Give me your life for your duty. Let's just walk away, Yi. Travel the world, and seek new places. Let's run away from all of this pain."

"Your justice is delivered, Yi. It's finished."

"It's not finished. Not yet." Yi hugged her. "I have to go help them. I'm so sorry," he whispered sadly. He started to pull away.

"So I am," she whispered back. And then she hit him with a point-blank charm spell. The invocation surrendered Yi's will to Ahri, and by her will, he crumpled to the ground, unconscious. With some effort, Ahri hoisted Yi on her back, and started walking away from the Institute of War.

* * *

Charred picked up the nearly dead body of Twisted Fate, amidst a hall full of dead or dying champions. He had collected more trophies along the way, but none of them his ultimate prize. A mask to replace his potato sack, that was simply the deceased nocturne's skull. A tooth necklace made from the jaws of his former mentor Warwick's teeth. But none of them Yi. The demon ground its teeth in frustration. Of all of the ones he killed, none were the coward Yi. Where was the craven hiding?!

A shadow passed over Charred. The demon looked up to see who it was.

There was one man left standing. He blocked off the exit to the Institute of War, with his massive bulk, and his magnificent hammer.

"My god." Jax murmured. "What have you done here, Singed?"

"I am Charred, mortal" the demon rose, picking up his scythe. "And are you going to die in vain like the rest of your kin? Or will save your life, and tell me where that man is?"

"Where… is Master Yi?"

"You will never touch them again, Singed."

"I AM CHARRED!"

"You will never touch them," Jax continued, "Because you're going to die right here."

Charred chuckled from underneath his skull-mask.

"I just killed three men exactly like you. Each held weapons of legendary and untold power, and I slew them all like dogs! You should have seen how that high and mighty Garen begged for his life! You should have seen how he shat himself after I cut off his head, after I ****ed him bloody with his own sword!"

Charred held out his hand.

"Let me see your weapon of legend, mercenary! Let me show you how I will break it like glass!"

Jax sighed, and raised his hammer.

"This is no magical weapon. There's nothing special about this maul, except that it is my own. My hammer. That I trained, and fought, and bled over, for years. This is my precious Mjolnir."

"So it is nothing more than a hunk of metal."  
"It is a hunk of metal that I'm going to kill you with."

Jax let his latent magical energy flow into his hammer, and the steel of the maul started glowing gold with power. The grandmaster spun the hammer once, before slamming it into the ground. The hammer first sunk a foot-deep into the runed stone, crunching into the magically reinforced rock like it was mud. Then the ground exploded outwards. Charred and Jax were lost in a storm of rock and dust, The demon screamed with anger as the storm sent him flying about the torrent; Charred slammed into a pillar, before falling on all fours onto the rock.

The storm cleared, and he could see Jax drawing his hammer out. Out of a crevasse a quarter of a mile long, the entire length of the hall they were in, and nearly half as deep.

"You can sense it, can't you, Singed?" Jax raised his hammer. "You're strong, but so am I. We are going to kill each other. You may shudder at that, but I will not. I cannot."

"Because I am Reginald Astram, High Councilor of the League, and I swore an oath to protect the world when I took office. If it takes my life to preserve the League, then I'll try to kill you down to my dying breath."

The demon hesitated. This man was undoubtedly strong, and if they ended up seriously injuring each other, Charred may have no strength left to finish Yi.

Something moved against him, and the demon looked down. As it saw what tapped him, a fleshless smile spread from behind its mask.

"I will have to finish you last, then, Councilor." Charred picked the thing up, laughing. "Don't worry- I'll tell Yi that you're doing just fine!"

"Wha-?"

Charred raised the thing it was holding—Twisted Fate. Jax screamed out—but it was too late.

"All that was yours" Charred shouted to Twisted Fate "is mine!" Black streams shot out of the Cardmaster, as the mortally wounded man slowly by slowly, stopped moving. After only a few moments, the man was dead. And Charred had stolen the Cardmaster's Destiny.

"NO! You leave Yi and Ahri alone, monster!"

Jax charged towards Charred, and raised his weapon. The grandmaster managed to get within striking distance, and swung with desperate speed—

"Ah—so that's where they are." Charred stepped backwards into a ring of black cards, and vanished as those cards whisked him away, just before Jax could separate Charred's head from its shoulders. His hammer struck through the black cards, all the while, Charred laughter lingered in the hall. Then the laughter died out, and Jax was left alone in the hall. He turned to the sky, wondering where Yi was right now.

"Yi… "

The demon is coming.

* * *

Ahri felt a chill. She looked up to the sky, and saw that it was turning black with storm. She could feel the evil in the air, as whatever was in the Institute was now most definitely coming for them. A great sadness swept her heart. She set Yi gently down on a bed of fallen leaves and flowers, easing her burden. There was no point in running now. The two were in front of an old shrine to some old dead god. Ahri had hoped that whatever once guarded this shrine would protect them in the end, but it was fruitless.

"In the end, it was impossible, wasn't it?" Ahri said, talking to the removed Yi. She took his helmet, and smoothed his hair. "Happiness with you."

She took his Dragon Rising, and stood up, smiling sadly down at Yi. She turned, and walked down out of the Shrine, down the stone steps to meet the evil that had robbed her of her happiness. As she walked, a new emotion blossomed in her heart. It was fierce and bright, yet dark. It clawed its way deep in her, and would not let go. It was one she had never savored as a fox.

Hate.

She gripped the sword even tighter as she strode alone down the steps.

Whatever it was that did her so much wrong, she would destroy it.

Inside her head, a voice stirred, but she did not notice it. Or maybe she did, but her body would not respond.

_Mejai… so you've finally come back to me._

_It has been almost ten thousand years now, but you couldn't rid yourself of that crippling habit of forcing me to pick up after your pieces._

_I see that the one who has inherited your blood is in need._

_Consider this another tally mark for me, Mejai, because I knew you would screw up your method of passing the Key of Phoenix down the ages, I made a back-up for you._

_You see, I was kind enough to contain the essence of your masterpiece in my blade._

_Your daughter will be fine- I believe._

_May she have a taste of the power you have willed to her._

_And may she destroy evil, much like how she will have to do once more, but next time with my chosen son._

Ahri dropped the blade. The Dragon Rising seemed to slip out of her hands, but she did not notice. She kept on forging towards the source of evil, determined to end it once and for all. Her path was not dark, although. Because the blue glow of her orb was replaced with the light of a blazing second sun.

In front of her, lighting her way as she walked, was a blazing hot orb, made of fire and light and the very sun itself. Inscribed in black marks on itself surface was the second verse to the ultimate ward of evil.

_"Sho Engimu Shoen Sya Er"_

_Phoenix sings of the Wisdom of the Sun_

The Phoenix Sun dawned.


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

The first thing that Charred felt was the heat. It swept over him like a wave, even though he was standing in what was once a cool forest breeze. Only once before had he felt heat like this. It was the instant that he, Adramalech, was banished to the lower depths of darkness with his rebel lord by Truth. It was that heat that burned away his six wings and scorched his immortal soul black. In the distance, brilliant orange flames flared from the tall oaks of the forest, and started eating their way towards him.

Hellfire, Charred realized, and for the second time in hundreds of thousands years, he felt fear.

Dark anger flared in response to the familiar sensation.  
_He would never go back again,_ Charred vowed, _not back to that hell of fire and ice_. The skull behind the mask growled. Was this some trick by Master Yi?

"Hiding behind fire, YI?!" Charred swung wildly with his scythe, carving through hundreds of trees with every swing of his weapon. As he flung his weapon about, trees started falling to the ground like leaves, and then were instantly consumed by the surrounding fire. Charred started screaming with hate and fear and exertion, until his yells blended together until they were less than angel, less than human, but totally animal. All the while, cutting down the forest, cutting down the fuel of the fire.

_He would never burn again, _Charred vowed desperately._ Never again._

Ash started rising into the air in clouds. The soot and debris blotted out the sun, until everything around Charred turned to blackness. The demon was suddenly wrapped in pitch black. He stopped swinging.

A small exhale betrayed his relief. Darkness was his home. If the light was extinguished, he could slip away once more. Not like that time.  
Memories of the flashes of the brilliant light of Truth shot through Charred's cursed mind. He remembered cursing himself, for being so foolish, to believe that even his rebel lord could ever have stood a chance against Truth. He remembered wanting to slip away into the darkness of oblivion, but the light of Truth would not let him.

Charred's worst fears were answered, for the light of the sun shone through again.

The demon cursed the soot for settling so quickly, but soon realized that the light did not come from the sun.

It did not come from the sun he knew.

* * *

Ahri strolled forwards, the Phoenix Sun firmly above her palm. The orb lit her way even through the storm of ash and soot that Charred had thrown up in vain. Her foot struck a soft bed of ash, and dust swirled up, threatening to engulf her, but almost as quickly, it was beat back by a torrent of hot air and heat, for as she walked forwards, twin flames circled about her, burning even the charcoal and ash away until nothing was left but glass, and clearing the way. She looked up; even though her orb shone like a second sun, she could still see clearly.

She saw her enemy.

The demon was like a cockroach, scurrying away from the light once shook out of their hiding hole.  
Ahri raised her hand, and like a musician playing a harp, she slowly pulled it away from the Phoenix Sun. A tiny fraction of the magical energy swirled about in her hand, until it formed a smaller, more compact orb of fire. She added a pair of fiery wings to the ball, letting it beat frantically against her will, practically leaping out of her hand

She bent down, holding the orb above her palm, right in front of her face. Ahri gave a small blow from her lips, a breath of air, and the mini-orb shot forwards, faster than an arrow, straight at Charred. The demon could only register a speck of light before the mini-orb struck him across the forehead, cracking the black bone, and shattering his mask.

The impact created a small explosion that blew away all of the dust, revealing all. Charred cursed as he clutched his face, stumbling. The demon looked up, as he forced open a green eye from the crack in his skull.

"The fox?! Die!"

Ahri was instantly bathed in the green light once killed her friend. The green glow intensified, and the demon smiled, believing his victory won, but Ahri had only to flick with her hand, and a fiery shield wrapped about her. The green explosive light, light that could slay immortals and heroes alike, was readily deflected off the shield, leaving it unscathed.

Ahri gazed contemptuously at the arch-demon. Her cold eyes, buried under layers of fire, spoke all.

_Is that the best you can do?_

The demon frantically transformed his scythe, turning it into his massive crossbow, and fire a dark bolt at Ahri. The fox looked as if she was desperately trying to keep from rolling her eyes, as the crossbow bolt burned away to ash against her shield. Looking bored, she glanced above her shoulder, willing a gift for Charred in return. A humongous crossbow bolt, nearly ten feet long and made of fire and light, swirled into existence next to Ahri, and pointed straight at Charred.

She waved her hand forwards, and the missile soared at Charred, at lightning speeds. The demon had to dive to the side to avoid the strike, and fortunately for him, because the fire bolt punched a smoking tunnel into the earth nearly a mile in length.

"HOW?!" Charred roared at Ahri, "HOW ARE YOU LIKE THIS?!"

When the fox didn't answer, Charred swept his arms to his sides, letting loose a storm of crows. From each of the crow's eyes shone that explosive green light, bathing the entire area nearly a mile in radius, all within his deadly green light.  
Ahri had to only glance at the crows once before she birthed her own pets. From her orb burst a hundred, a thousand fiery phoenixes, each one of them charging at a crow, and engulfing both in in a burst of flame and light, leaving nothing but ash. Charred's eyes widened at the flock of phoenixes about him, but could only respond by summoning more and more crows into the air. He was hoping to overwhelm the fox.

But still she stood stock still, all the while creating more and more phoenixes at an incredible rate

A globe of birds was born between the two, one halve was black and dark, full of crows with shining green eyes, and the other halve was fire and light, shooting out streaking phoenixes that targeted and consumed the crows with laser-like accuracy. The battle seemed even at first glance. But Charred was growing more and more weary by the second, while Ahri simply stood in front of her orb, eyes closed in boredom.  
Charred gave a desperate burst of power, and a glut of crows pulsed out from him like a wave, and for a second, the globe became mostly black, with only a small territory left to the searing phoenixes.

The demon gave a small laugh of triumph.

Then Ahri opened her eyes, and she focused her will on her orb. The production of phoenixes doubled, and then tripled, and then increased tenfold. Instantly Charred was engulfed in a sea of firebirds, scorching him all about his cloak and skull and charred flesh. They flew at him, sinking into his body, and causing him to scream in agony like he had felt only once before. And then it stopped.

Ahri had stopped the birds just by raising her hand. Charred, suddenly free of the assault, hit the ground on his knees, smoking. As he fell, the demon hacked in pain, for the heat had cracked his bones and glassed even his charred flesh.  
The demon bowed to the ground, and raised his hand.

"I yield, my goddess of fire and light." Charred lowered his skull, until he was almost kissing the ground with his black teeth. "You have claimed victory"

Ahri stood over the archdemon with her orb by her hand. The Phoenix Sun seemed to have a life of its own, zipping around her, checking out potential threats, and pulsing like a heart.

"Might I gaze upon your appearance?" Charred politely inquired, "I wish to look upon my beautiful conqueror."  
She didn't answer, so Charred carefully raised his skull. He could see her feet first, dirty with soot and blackened by fire. Her bare legs next, clotted with ash and dust, but still unscathed. Her body that still had the curves that captured the hearts of men and sent them love-struck to their deaths in the forests of Ionia.  
And then… her lips. Her nose.  
He just needed to get to her eyes.

"Did you know, my goddess?" Charred gave a grotesque smile. "that the eyes are the window to your soul?"  
Charred leaped up, and his arms shot outstretched, grasping for Ahri's face. He just needed to gaze into her eyes…

Those fox-like eyes came into his view, and Charred shouted in triumph.  
"ALL YOU FEAR IS MINE!"

Ahri reached up, and grabbed Charred's face. Her fingers dug into his eye sockets, and although the demon's flesh burned her palm, her skin burned Charred even more. The demon writhed in agony; he clawed at her arms, but to no avail.

"These eyes killed Hae-In." Ahri muttered. Her hand gripped tighter.  
She set her hand ablaze, and the demon fell back, screaming in agony, for his emerald eyes were burning away. Charred clawed at his eye sockets, but that only spread the fire to his fingers, and within moments, nearly half of the demon was set ablaze.

"MY EYESSSSS! MY EYESSSSS! I CAN'T SEE!"  
Ahri walked up, and grabbed Charred by the neck. With one hand, she slammed the demon to the ground, still screaming.  
"Don't die yet. You still have more to do."  
Fiery chains wrapped about Charred, binding him to the ground. Still blind, the demon struggled against the unknown force.

"What have you done?! What is this on my arms?! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME YOU C*NT?! YOU B*TCH FOX!" The demon shouted as he battled against his restraints, but to no avail. The fiery chains budged not an inch.

Ahri circled about Charred once, her face cold and hard, before crouching, and reaching down with her hand. She lightly stroked Charred's seething face. Her fingers skated across the blackened bone; her touch soft and gentle. The blind demon stiffened at the alien, placid touch. His breathing quickened, and his immortal soul started becoming more and more human by the second. The softness and kindness in her touch was too much for him to bear. He started weeping, crying in fear and pain and confusion. He started crying because he felt his doom from her touch.

"I am so sorry," Ahri whispered, "because you won't deserve this." Her hand travelled down Charred's tainted chest; stained with the blood of a thousand innocents. Her hand came to a stop above the demon's cursed heart.

"You have done so much wrong. You destroyed Yi's home. You killed Hae-In. You slaughtered thousands. You would come over here to destroy the only and last thing in this world I care for anymore."

Charred, now broken, wept dry tears at the accusations. The demon once thought that his heart had well and truly perished in the fires of hell, but he was wrong. The precipice of death had found in him the once more the soul that he thought he lost.  
"You have done so much wrong, but you still don't deserve what I am going to do to you, because I am doing foolishly, selfishly, for myself. This is for my revenge only."  
She clenched her hand over Charred's heart.  
"Forgive me. This is the Phoenix Death Sun"

A suit of fire engulfed Charred, and he disappeared. Ahri gazed coldly at the patch of blackened earth where Charred once laid. She wanted to remember this image. Yet as she tried to focus her eyes, the black seemed to swirl. She swayed on the spot. Then the sky to her flipped upside down, the horizon spun circles around her eyes. She started to fall.

* * *

Hell. It was hell once more. In the Phoenix Death Sun, Charred burned an indescribable agony, like every pain suffered in the world, spread out along the entirety of his skin, slipping down his throat with every breath, and burning him from inside out. He stumbled blindly through the flames, for the heat had long melted his eyes into nothing but sulfur and water. He tried to find a grip on a burning pillar, but as he did, his hand cracked, and burned away in the heat. The pain was beyond comprehension, but he had some small solace that his death would come quickly. He laid back, even through the burning agony, and decided to accept his death quietly.

The fires consumed him, and he was gone.  
He was born again.

The fires seemed to intensify, and Charred screamed in pain and confusion. Why wasn't he dead?! The demon stumbled through the fire, until his foot broke off, and he tripped. Charred tumbled down a slope of fire, until he rolled into a blazing maw that immediately engulfed him in flames and brimstone. He died again.

He woke up again, in agony.

"My goddess! My beautiful goddess Ahri!" Charred choked out between gulps of embers, "Mercy! MERCY!"  
The unwise shouting overly exposed his insides to the heat, and Charred died, his core completely burned out. A black shell of a man tumbled to the flames, broken in so many places like a piece of pottery.

The shell reformed itself, and the victim was born again. Now his mind was Singed, and he felt the agony of the chemical weapons he unleashed on innocents, multiplied a hundred-fold, all over his body and mind and soul. The chemist screamed in agonized desperation, as his flesh peeled away in flakes, and the blaze burnt his body to the bone.

"KILL ME PLEASE!" Soon Singed was now nothing, replaced by another conscious. Each rebirth burned away yet another sin, and yet another memory. For years, a god named Charred, a man named Singed, a specter named Fiddlesticks, an anchangel named Adramalech, and a young boy named Roma Getines would burn in this prison. Until nothing would be left but purity.

* * *

Ahri swayed, then her eyes rolled up in her head and she fell forwards—

Yi caught her just as she was about to hit the ground. She slumped over his arm, completely spent. Her Phoenix Sun faded into the air. He turned her over, cradled her unconscious form in his hands, ignoring the searing heat from her body that burned his arms and scorched his face.  
She snored softly; managing to sleep in the center of a blackened forest that looked more like it was wiped out by a volcano than a fox.

_Ahri._  
He hugged her tightly. She gave a slight grumble at the squeeze.

_Thank god you're ok._

* * *

_That is three hundred and eighty-three to one, Mejai. You will die a hundred deaths before you ever manage to pay me back, you f*cking screw up._

_Shut up, Youmuu._


	22. Final Chapter

**Dragon Rising the Final Chapter**

"Kon, Kon, Kon," Ahri muttered happily as she munched on the plate of fried tofu set in front of them. Yi sat across from her on the other side of a small wooden table, slightly bemused. The fox finished yet another helping of the bean curd, and held her plate out with both hands to Yi. Yi scooped up another half-dozen of the soy sauce drenched tofu with a long set of chopsticks, and dumped them on her plate, who immediately went back to devouring the treats.

"Ahri…"

The fox looked up, a piece of tofu half-sticking out of her mouth, and gave a muffled, "Hm?"

Yi laughed, and then waved his hand away.

"No, never mind."

But inside he was deep in thought. What he saw in the forest was incredible. Ahri, with that orb of fire, had completely and utterly destroyed the so-called god, Charred, not to mention a good hundred acres or two of the woodlands with it. A smoking wasteland of ash and soot had formed outside, still flaring up with the latent heat that Ahri had poured into the hapless area. Already, cartographers were measuring the breadth of destruction, and naming the area, rather bluntly he thought, the Foxfire Desert.

What was the Dragon Rising blade? Ahri claimed that she did not remember a thing of what happened that day, but he could feel that her orb… was connected with his Dragon Rising. There was still so much to learn about his sword.

While he was staring, he mistakenly caught the eye of Ahri, who looked up, confused. He smiled the accident away.

_And much to learn… about her._

He closed his eyes at this. It did not matter who she was, or what God or gods had in store for her. He would protect her through it all. He glanced at the water clock that was set up in the dingy little kitchen they were seated in. It was almost time.

"Ahri, finish up. We have to go now."

Ahri looked up, and moaned.

"I don't want to~"

"Come on… this is important to them."

Ahri pouted, and crossed her arms.

"If I was so important to them, then what the F do they care? Let me eat."

Yi laughed, and pulled her to her feet.

"One of the things of being human is learning to please others, even if you think it sucks."

Ahri grumbled.

"Fine, I'll go. But one thing:" She stuck her finger into his chest. "You have to come with me, Mr. I'm-so-human."

"Oh come now, this is your moment. Don't let me spoil it."

"You walk down there with me. I'm a poor, defenseless fox."

Yi sighed, then nodded.

"You win. Let's go then."

The two got up, and strode to a heavy set of double doors. With some effort, they pushed their way through a set of double doors. As the doors creaked open, light poured through the opening, and revealed a magnificent display. Hundred, thousands of people had crowded into the main assembly hall of receive their savior of the League. An army of adorers had come to give their love to Ahri. A wave of noise washed over them like a flood.

Yi and Ahri stood rooted to the spot for a second. The image was overwhelming. Thousands of commoners in the back were cheering adulations to Ahri, waving, and tossing so many thousands of flowers into the air until it looked as if it were snowing. All of the surviving palace guards had shown up in full dress uniform, separating the commoners from the elites, as they added to the commotion by beating on their shields with their spears. All of the guards were yelling, as they too struggled to be heard over the din.

Between the guards and Yi and Ahri were the Champions. All of them that showed up were clapping and cheering enthusiastically for their newest savior.

To the left, Yi and Ahri could see Pantheon and Leona of the Rakkor, who were both pounding on their shields in likeness of the guards with their relic weapons out of respect for the Fox. The Kinkou trio were standing next to them in solemn appreciation of Ahri's contribution to the balance of the world. Irelia and Karma stood side by side, representing the twin functions of Ionia's military and diplomacy, each in honor of Ahri.

Ashe and Tryndamere were garbed in their most brilliant royal attire, though Tyrndamere was noticeably uncomfortable in the frills, and had to be constantly reprimanded by his wife for his uncouthness.

Caitlyn and Heimerdinger of Piltover had started firing rockets into the air to add to the confusion, though hidden in the loud artistry of the explosions was a hint of melancholy. They were still mourning the death of their hero, Jayce.

More than a few Demacians had joined to celebrations as well, although all of them were armored in their most brilliant black, out of respect for their fallen brother. Garen, might of their forces, was the heart of Demacia. For them, their heart could never be replaced. Ahri noted with a twinge in her heart that Luxanna Crownsguard was clapping the most enthusiastically out of any of them, despite the tears streaming down her face.

Teemo led a small pack of yordles who were all dressed in fox ears and had glued 9 fluffy streamers to their behinds, as they all cheered in their particularly high voice. Yi gave them an appreciative smile at their attempt of humor.

There were even Noxians in the crowd. Not a soul among them was cheering or even looked especially happy; Swain himself looked particularly angry over the commotion. Yet there were a few that were clapping respectfully, if unenthusiastically. True to their nature, Noxians valued strength above all else, and Ahri had broken through all of their limits. Katarina in particular was clapping, though she looked distracted. Her eyes kept on darting back to the crowd of Demacians in black.

_Garen,_ Yi realized, but he did not say a word.

Finally, Yi and Ahri had made it down the huge assembly hall, to the seat of the High Councilors. Jax was standing to the side of the Councilors, a lamppost back in his hands. He walked up to Yi and Ahri, and put a hand on both of their shoulders. Then, almost uncharacteristically, the Grandmaster-at arms hugged the two of them. Yi gave a small smile, and Ahri hugged the Grandmaster tight. When he pulled away, she gave him a kiss on his mask.

"Go get them, you two." Jax nodded as he slipped back.

Yi and Ahri then turned to face the Councilors. High Councilor Vessaria Kolminye was the one to receive the two. The summoner stepped forwards.

"Ahri of Ionia," Councilor Kolminye addressed, as Ahri looked away. The fox was still not used to having a country to call her own yet. "Savior of the League from the evils of the demon known as Charred, we honor you."

Kolminye stepped to the side, as did the other two Councilors. They stepped back to reveal the Doors of Acceptance.

"We have commissioned a new Judgment for you. As you step in, you will receive our honor as Protector of the League, your Observation and Reflection will be recorded for years to come as you take your place as our rightful guardian. You-" But she was interrupted.

A whistling filled the air. Of something falling.

_KA-BOOOM!_

An explosion rocked the roof, and people screamed. A hole had been blasted in the ceiling, by a dark magical force. All of the champions drew their weapons as they stood, tense, in anticipation of what terror was yet to come.

Veigar stepped into view.

"You would all rejoice and drink merrily while I still run amok to reign my terrible terror?!" The Yordle called out in his high, estranged voice. "Not a chaaaaance! I will carve into your memories the greatest evil you shall ever knoooow!"

Many of the champions started to look at each other, and laugh.

"Stop laughing! I AM EVIL!"

Already, many of the Champions were racing to the highest floor, to confront this master of "evil", although all of them were chuckling on the way.

Yi and Ahri turned to follow them.

"Wait! Guardian Ahri! You have not taken your judgment yet!"

Yi and Ahri glanced at each other.

"Who cares?" Ahri stuck out her tongue in what little apology she could muster up. "There's trouble, we have to go."

"But—wait, our other champions can handle it! And this is extremely important!"

"No it isn't" Ahri said, bluntly. "Yi told me himself. 'This is just another way for you to try to contain and control me' Right, Yi?"

Yi nodded forlornly in confirmation. Jax, off to the side, gave a bark of laughter as he watched the High Councilor's carefully crafted plans unravel like toilet paper.

"So that's it." Ahri quipped, to an astonished Vessaria Kolminye "Sorry, but screw you guys, we have funner stuff to do."

"W-wait!" Kolminye fumbled, as she stretched out her hand, but they were gone. From behind, and still chuckling, Jax walked up, and put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

"Better luck next time, Vessy"

The Councilor brushed off the hand in annoyance.

* * *

Once they had finally made their escape, Ahri turned to Yi, and gave him a very, very serious nod. And kept on nodding.

_Good job,_ she seemed to say, in between the inclinations of her head.

He gave her a just as serious nod back…

_You too…_

The two kept determinedly straight faces for about ten seconds.

Right before the two burst into laughter.

HAHAHA! Ah, ah, HAHAHAHAHA!

Ahri was doubled up in laughter, while Yi had his hand over his goggles. It took the childish champions a full half minute to recover, and even then they still had silly grins on their faces.

"Yi?" Ahri asked, though she had to try several times, as twice she chocked up over her giggles. She held out her hand. "Let's go. Together." Her smile was radiant under the light streaming from Veigar's destruction of the ceiling.

Yi put his hand in hers, and gripped it. He smiled at the contact. She slipped forwards, moving in for a kiss. Her eyes twinkled, and her smile twitched up mischievously. Then she slapped his hand, and started running up first.

"First one to make Veigar cry 'Uncle!' wins!" She taunted, as she dashed off without him. Her footsteps clattered up the stone steps, and Yi could hear the shout of the other champions as it sounded like she presumably threw them down the stairs, to impede his advance. Yi first had to give his obligatory sigh out of some level of responsibility for the bruises she would cause those poor champions. Then he had to chuckle, and he shook his head. Then he immediately started the chase up the stairs.

The two left. To new ends and new beginnings.

Dragon Rising, the Master Yi epic.

~Finish


	23. Epilogue

"Uncle?"

"Uncle!"

"UNCLE!"

"I'm tired already! Let me down!"

Ahri glanced up at the bundle of Yordle that they had wrapped up in rope and left dangling by the mouth of a stone gargoyle. She swung her legs off the roof as she watched Veigar struggle with mild curiosity. She turned to Yi.

"You think we should let him down now?"

Yi glanced over Ahri's shoulder at the Yordle.

"No. Let's just watch the sunset for a little longer."

Ahri smiled, then turned back to the setting sun.

The three champions watched the sun set from off the top of the roof of the Institute of War, as the sun set, to prepare for a new beginning. Well, two anyways. Veigar was more distracted with gnawing through his ropes.


End file.
